Up and about early today, to IKEA for lighting and other stuff, mainly for Graham’s current project. It’s not much of a drive, along the motorway and into the back end of Cardiff. One day we’ll make the trip into the city itself, for the moment we weave our way through the big tin retail sheds you’ll find somewhere on the edge of every big town. And some not so big towns, too.
Breakfast was good, so good that I had two. Even Graham opted for a ‘breakfast extra’.
It would be easy to say that IKEA is a barometer of recession, but it’d be just a bit on the over-simple side. Sure, they’ve cut the level of lighting down, and the heating, and there were nowhere near so many customers as we’re used to, but the buying was serious stuff and I suspect that IKEA is doing pretty well, considering. As is most of the British economy. And speaking personally, I’m rather pleased by the reduced heating.
The roads aren’t quite so crowded, either, not even at ‘rush hour’.
For me, the change is a good one. I’m not so handy at crowds as I used to be. But even so, you can’t help but wonder where all those people have gone, what they’re doing.
Howsomever. We got all the stuff on our list, which is another strange sign of recession. You almost never exit IKEA with all the stuff you had on your list. We’d had our doubts about the lighting for the landing ceiling but in the event they were stacked high, and on special offer.
And then, home. I’d sort of planned to tank the car up on the way out of the Cardiff retail park, calling in at ASDA/Wal-Mart to get petrol at a good price. As it panned out, I found the level of fuel in the tank was sufficient to get us home, with careful driving. It would have been fine if I’d had the nerve to carry it through but I chickened out when the gauge went down to the last display ‘bar’ so we called in at a fuel station just inside the Neath boundary. The fuel was priced at 10p a litre more than I’d have had to pay at ASDA so I bought just £10 worth. Even at that, it restored the tank to a slightly higher level than when we set out on our trip so not a lot was lost overall.
Dolly was delighted to see us, perhaps having decided that we’d not be back until late afternoon. As it was, we were in good time for a simple lunch of bread and soup and a really satisfactory afternoon nap.
The ‘experts’ have changed their collective mind once more, deciding that an afternoon nap is good for brain power after all.
Sheesh!
I shall continue in my own sweet way, taking my retirement perks as I feel inclined. I’m worth it.
Indeed, sir, you are, you are. Glad you had a good outing.
Around here IKEA is very popular with the college crowd. Gets very crowded around the start of school.
They do have good breakfasts. I am trying not to buy anything so I don’t go to the IKEA temptation palace.
Glad you had successful hunting, Bagheera!
Of course you’re worth it. Moderation in all things and almost anything can be good for you.
IKEA is a time and money pit for us. When we walk out of the place, great lengths of time and money are unaccounted for. We have a cart full of “things”, though.
I like your enthusiasms. I continue to retire with pazazz here too. Maybe tomorrow, I will nap.
Ikea here still has good crowds on weekends, and the last time we were there, we too managed to get everything we needed. Now that the kitchen is as done as it is getting, Himself is moving on to the downstairs/small/original half bath. We rediscovered the Habitat for Humanity Restore and got flooring for a fraction of the Home Depot price. Do you have one near you?
PS: You sure are worth it.
First I’ve heard of “Habitat for Humanity Restore”, Mage. Looks like a good idea but so far is only trading in the US. We do have broadly equivalent local bodies.
Sadly, I just realized I didn’t get a “posts up” e-mail yesterday, so I’m a little late.
I’ve noticed around these parts, the larger stores such as Walmart are not carrying near the variety of goods they did before the recession.
Less stock on the shelves, means less mark-downs after the season ends.
We have the Habit for Humanity Restore here too, last week they received a shipment of first line stoves and other appliances, donated from the General Electric Company. A 1500.00 stove for four hundred. Not a bad deal !
Naps…..a good thing.
I’m beginning to lose patience with the missing notify phenomenon, and it must be worse for you! Nothing to be done about it, I’m afraid–I send the things to the notify service and it seems to be a matter of luck from the point on out.
If you care to go through the registration process (it’s painless, and only applies to non-wordpress readers) you’ll get an automatic full notification email direct from wordpress.com the instant I click the ‘publish’ button. It’s ‘full’ in that it’s a formatted copy of the entry, complete with pictures. You can comment direct from your email program, too, but you don’t get to see other folks’ comments unless you click through to the ‘real’ entry.
I can verify that wordpress’ automatic notification feature works perfectly. It’s a bit of a pain having to verify every comment subscription, but it’s nice to be able to pounce upon John’s prose.
Boy I could use a nap but Kahinah hasn’t shown any indication she knows how to let me do such.
I’m not aware of missing any notify e-mails from you (but what is the sound of one e-mail clapping in a forest if there is nobody there to hear it?) but the notify e-mail for this entry definitely did not come on the day you sent it. I think it was here yesterday (Friday) because Yahoo told me I had two e-mails from you but when I looked at my in-box (in date/time sequence) I saw only your e-mail announcing your Feb 25th entry… and today when Yahoo again told me I had two e-mails from you I decided to sort by sender and saw that I did indeed have two e-mails, one announcing this entry (Feb 24) and one announcing your entry for Feb 26. (The Internet probably routed the notice about this particular entry the long way round, probably via the moon or something like that.)
Ah well… about gasoline (uh, petrol)… Fuel pumps in modern cars are located inside the fuel tank and depend, to a certain extent, on the fuel that surrounds them to provide cooling. Thus allowing a very low fuel level will deprive the pump of the needed cooling. A single event of this would not be a problem (and, indeed, I have from time to time been almost down to my last droplet of fuel when I have pulled in for a fill up) but, as I had to warn my children from time to time when they were teenagers and felt they could not afford to purchase enough to fill their tanks, consistently driving with a low fuel level can shorten the life of the fuel pump.
(John, I assume you know this, but I thought I’d mention it just in case one or two readers might not be aware of it.)