Swedish Disneyland

Today we decided to visit that temple of consumerism and Scandanavian design, (or, as Shara calls it, the Swedish themepark), Ikea. The list of things our "fully furnished" flat was missing was getting quite long, and by all accounts, Ikea is the very place to remedy such a situation. Plus they have the irresistable lure (for a pathological bargain-hunter) of a sale.

Being carless, two bus-rides were involved, and by the time we got there, we were hungry. Luckily, Ikea have thought of this, and there is a cafeteria onsite, serving swedish meatballs and lingonberry juice to add another dimension to the Scandanavian experience. It's school holidays right now so lots of meatballs on the floor and a fair amount of screaming.

We have been once before so were wise to their floorplan - you don't actually have to follow the arrows around the shop (doing so can take hours), and you can definitely cut the showroom experience. Even so, there's a fair bit of ground to cover. You'll be pleased to know that as a result of our themepark experience, we now have a whiteboard (so Andrew's ideas have somewhere to go), coffee mugs, a pink duvet cover (shown here in blue) and bedside lamp (not sure how they made it past A - the meatball effect perhaps?) and more towels. An airbed and pillows picked up on the way home made us somewhat hazardous to other bus passengers, but we are now geared up for visitors :-)

A cup of Swedish coffee (you can buy that there too) out of new mug completes the themepark day, but a slice of banana cake is a more kiwi accompaniment. It would be great if someone put the Edmonds cookbook online, for those craving tastes of home.

I'm listening to Ang Lee talk about his latest film, Hulk, and am reminded of childhood Hallowe'en parties. One year my brother Neil went as the Incredible Hulk - he was painted green from head to toe. Neil and I had a reputation for creative and quite extreme constumes, and I wonder who had more fun - us wearing them or mum and dad creating them.

Off to the pub...happy weekends all round...