On IKEA

I have good memories of IKEA in Birmingham. Wandering around deciding what to buy for my home 15 miles away, then trying to squeeze all the furniture into my little Fiesta - on one memorable occasion I remember looking in the rear view mirror and seeing the Dodgess' legs around her ears. There was a little cafe there too where you could get Sweedish interpretation of fast food - nice enough, but merely something to fill the bread basket if you get hungry.

So you can imagine, with an IKEA but a few miles away from my new home in Singapore, we were looking forwards to a similar experience. Alas, not so much the case. Whilst the IKEA on the M6 could be busy, it was always pretty ok. Here, in Tampines, it's fairly ridiculous. Too many small people (no - not Asians - toddlers) who simply disappear beneath by ankles. It never struck me that IKEA could be a 'family entertainment' destination, but it is here. There are more children in the youngsters furniture area than a typical paediatricians.

Then the cafe. Ok - the meatballs have an appeal similar to McDonalds - lots of things that aren't very good for you. The chicken wings are a sort of Swedish version of KFC. My point is, it's not somewhere I would travel to. But some people here do. For example, a 3 generational meal out at the table next to us - 7 people, each having 3 courses. THREE COURSES? Seriously.

I whinged about this to my fellow whinger, a Mrs AAA (those really are her initials, at least the first 3 of them). Normally she has an equal cynicism as myself. However on this occasion she let me down disasterously - the previous evening she had gone, with her husband and daughter, to IKEA for dinner! Seriously? She did at least admit it was a poor choice for a dinner with her friends. 

So, with the cafe experience somewhat ruined, and the whole place full of toddlers who I end up kicking at least the furniture is left. Except half the time it isn't. The passed two trips we haven't been able to buy what we want as they are out of stock. Ok, so we still have the fun of fitting everything into the car. Except that I don't have a car anymore, and since we can't load up taxis in the same way, we have to get things delivered. So no more seeing the Dodgess with her legs around her ears. Pity.


Still, there is always the fun of trying to work out how to put the furniture together. Except that we don't have time. We really don't. So we pay someone else to do it. It's only 6% of the purchase price - probably less than the tools that I would buy to do it. So why not?


Nonetheless, in the space of a month, we have more or less finished 3 rooms. We still need a little more furniture. I love our dining table - not from IKEA, but rather made by Ex Cons. Hopefully we will soon find some new kitchen furniture and clear out our middle bedroom.


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The Dodgess has now started a full time job with a top school in Singapore. After 18 months of running around like a lunatic, she has settled into a job where she probably still runs around like a lunatic, just school wide, rather than Island-wide.


So far she seems to be enjoying it all - perhaps apart from the early mornings. Still - she has a fabulous alarm clock, even if I say so myself!