Feeling Human

I had not planned on being the first person at IKEA this morning. It just so happened that I arrived almost ten whole minutes before GoogleMaps' guess, at three minutes to ten. But I was glad for it when, having meandered the upper floor and attempted to lose myself betwixt their elaborate, dreamy showrooms, I sat down in a busy café half hour later. I tucked myself away behind a wall on a table overlooking the entrée below, quiet and solitary save for my coffee and 50kr¹ coupon to their internal corner store.

I prefer my croissants plain, but this one was really good, I must say. Not pictured is the slice of paprika I devoured before thinking to take a picture…

As one does, I undertook this venture with a precise plan in mind, and in terms of homeware, two things were on my list: a grater and a colander. Nothing special. Mundane items. I felt confident going in. However my plan fell apart almost immediately, when this was the colander that met me farther inside the store. Hand for scale.

This is easily twice the size of what I need.

With that, my shopping list shrunk down to one item, the grater, easily secured. It was exactly what I wanted. Simple. No fuss. Mine was a successful trip after all. But I had only just entered the store's ground floor, and many joys were yet to cross my path. I present the highlights:

These vases to represent the journey thus far. 

Reminded me of William Morris, whose work I admire.

I bought none of these things, though a plain bamboo tray took the place of my (admittedly humorous) disappointment with the colander. The tray was not on my list initially, however I have been looking for something similar elsewhere without luck and it ticked all the boxes.

Happier still was I when en route back to the metro, a sweet old man stopped me asking for directions. I'm not familiar with the area myself, but GoogleMaps saved the day. We walked and talked together for some minutes until our paths diverged, him taking a left turn and I one to the right. He was 77 years old, he told me, and on his way to the graveyard on foot because the weather was bad and he'd rather not drive. I missed my metro just, but I don't mind the five-minute wait for another, and even less so when my heart feels so warm.

In the end, I returned home having spent more money on foodstuffs than homeware, which was more or less the plan all along.

 

Footnotes

1 50kr ≈ €4.26. It's not much, but practically paid me back for my lunch.