Advertisement
Published: October 2nd 2005
Edit Blog Post
Alexandra Palace Part 1
Kelly and Mark: You have to picture this put together with Alexandra Palace Part 2 since that's the "panoramic" shot I will have in my scrapbook. I've decided to move into IKEA. I think it's the best decision I've made in quite some time. Really. I mean it. I want to live at IKEA. More about why later....
Yesterday, I moved house on the bus. The 191 is usually quite tempermental but all six of my journeys on the bus were timely! I was so impressed. Granted, the bus drivers kept giving me looks like I was nuts, but then as most of you are already aware, I kind of am. The same driver kept picking me up at my old flat but different drivers brought be back after I'd dropped a load of stuff at the new place. I think the driver was starting to experience "driver deja vu" each time he saw me. Whatever...at least I'm done with it now. I don't have pictures of my new place because at this point, it's not fit for anyone to lay eyes on! You saw the pictures of my old flat and it wasn't big by any means and this new flat is smaller than that. It's just wide enough for a single bed and the door and it's about the length of a single bed
Alexandra Palace Part 2
The tower on the right side of the picture is where the BBC broadcasts from I think. In Part 1, the Palm Court Exhibition Hall is on the left side of the picture. plus 4 1/2 feet. Needless to say, all of my stuff has definitely not found a home. Mostly it's just a big jumble that hopefully I'll be able to get sorted.
Hence the reason for the trip to IKEA. After seeing just how much stuff I have, I decided that I needed a table to on which to put my computer and a laundry basket. These items would at least begin the organizational process quite nicely. First I tried to get them from IKEA, but tables were expensive and laundry receptacles of any kind were conspicuously missing from the catalog. Off to IKEA!!!!
Now, I've never been to IKEA but I have heard of the wonders that IKEA holds from my friend Yvonne and various other people that worked in the office at UNCG. I have been intrigued by the place, but considering that from NC I'd have to go to DC to shop at IKEA, it just never happened (because I absolutely refuse to
drive into the city ever again in my lifetime). For those of you who also have no idea what IKEA is, it's a
HUGE showroom type store that you walk through and write
Pretty Alexandra Palace
The front of the Palace is beautiful. You can't get a good sense of how big it is, but if you look REALLY hard, you can see people sitting on the patio and that might help with the scale. down the locations of the items you'd like to purchase (if they're big ticket items like couches, chairs, tables, lamps, or anything else that you may need/want) for your home. Then after you've walked through the huge showroom that's completely set up with books on bookcases and shower curtains and soap in the bathrooms, you come back down to the next level and you can walk through and get little bits and bobs for your home like plates and bedding and paintings and such. Following this, you go through what looks like Lowes with these huge shelves full of flatpacks.
Now, IKEA has pretty much revolutionized the flatpack system. You can get a leather couch in a flatpack! They do this so that you can easily transport all of the items you purchase back home because they know people will come in their cars and not huge U-Haul trucks. (Almost no one here has a pickup truck and the cars are much smaller than in the States...think Ford Festiva or Geo Metro for the most part.) But, even though they've definitely got a good system going, there are some drawbacks...especially for those of us that take the bus to
View from AP
From Alexandra Palace, you can see buildings that sit on the banks of the Thames around the Millenium Bridge. get there. On my quest for a table, I found one for £20.99 that is the perfect size and will do what I need it to do: hold my computer and random piles of bumf. Very basic and nice, but not so nice that I'll be upset to get rid of it in a year. However, I swear that no one in the country has a laundry basket. If they do, they're keeping the purchasing location a secret. I ended up getting a basic, large, wooden basket that will serve the purpose and it was marked down to less than £5.
But, since I decided to get the basket, there was no way for me to carry the flatpacks containing the legs to the table (weighing 7kg...15.4 pounds) and the table top (didn't even look to see how much it would weigh so that I wouldn't scare myself out of getting the table). I'm working on convincing one of my friends that they want to go to IKEA as well so that I have someone to help me back with my table. We shall see. The other BEAUTIFUL thing about IKEA is that it's open until 10pm. That's just
Kerri's Leaving Do
Ruth, Kerri, Kate, Gemma, and Mike outside the Punch and Judy Pub in Covent Garden. Ruth is kind of my "supervisor" at Sure Start, but that's only so far on paper because she works at a clinic and has nothing to do with Sure Start. Go figure.... about unheard of here. The only shop that I know to be open that late is the grocery and maybe a couple of newsagents, but those are few and far between. Even the grocery that says it's open 24 hours is only open on Sundays from 10-4 and Mondays from 8-5. I'm learning to plan my errands around what's open though.
Today, I'm in London cause I needed to get a couple of things from stores that don't exist in Enfield. I tried to take the train line that's just outside my flat, but it was closed for emergency track repairs...as was the other train line that goes through Enfield Town. So, being as ingenious as I am, I tried to take the Tube, and it's closed as well. Hello and welcome to rail replacement buses! Took me forever to get into the City, but that's okay. I'm learning my way around snafus like this. I have to because the trains and Tube aren't running next weekend or the weekend after either. Now at least I know the system.
More on my job when I figure out what in the world I'm doing. Basically all I've figured out
My old flatmates
These are my old flatmates Lauren and Heather. Lauren, in the green, moved to Scotland this weekend and Heather is headed back to Chile next weekend. for the Sure Start part is that I'm to be there and figure out what is needed and then report back and then I'll find out if that's what I need to do or if the locus of service needs to be in a different area or some such craziness. Granted, I don't have a meeting to figure any of this out until 11 October and until then I have to be busy doing my job...whatever I decide that to be...but I might be completely off target. Oh well, I'll deal with it later.
Pictures are of Alexandra Palace (which is having a stamp and scrapbooking fair today...wish I'd known), old flatmates, and other friends I've made here. Talk to you later, M
Advertisement
Tot: 0.113s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0812s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
denise
non-member comment
you crazy
girl, you have been mighty busy. your independent spirit is amazing! i am exhausted by just hearing about your many bus trips to move. holy crap! regular moving is hard enough. good for you. happy IKEA. it is fun there and a bit over-stimulating. how's work?