Ikea: land of wondrous distractions....

[fajrdrako]

I just got back from a trip to Ikea. I had no need for furniture or lamps or anything major, though my friends did. And believe me, there was a sofa or two I could be persuaded to love. I needed a dish-rack and a saucepan. I got a saucepan, two semitransparent blue plastic trays, placemats, a lamp lit by tea candles (for the next big blackout), and a toilet brush.

And I had a wonderful time browsing. I love stuff there, even when it's things I wouldn't want to put in any house - like a bookshelf in the shape of a check-mark. Shelving, I adore good shelving - oh for a dozen sets of good bookshelves - and a place to put them!

I ran into an old friend named Shelley. "Phone me," she said. "E-mail me." She is a friend I have been planning or hoping to invite over for dinner for about two decades now. (Friends who haven't been invited over for a mere two or three years may cease to feel neglected, reading that.) This time I mean it. Can't e-mail her, I don't have her address, but a phone call is a real possibility.

I went into Michaels and swooned over their rubber stamping books. What is it that makes me love the art of rubber stamps so well? I make many greeting cards and gift tags and the like; pretty rudimentary stuff; I don't take the time to do anything ambitious. But how I love to see it. I was on a rubber-stamp mailing list for a while and loved seeing the terrific things people have made.

Another joy was discovering how good the food in the Ikea cafeteria is. I had an open-face egg and shrimp sandwich. Brings a smile to my face, really.

I had to think of "Fight Club", where the Narrator is referred to as "Ikea-boy". I can really relate.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yeah, dinner's a great thing. Usually.

I recommend Ikea. I know people whose great ambition in life is to progress from Ikea stuff to 'real' furniture, but I do love Ikea. It's so creative; it has a sense of fun and inventiveness and sheer practicality.