Ikea, Murcia - what a trip.

We had been looking for a cooker, to run on LPG, and had seen one on the Repsol website (Spain's equivalent of Calor) but had been struggling to get a price. So, having Googled LPG Cookers, Spain - imagine my surprise when Ikea came up. But, having checked their website here in Spain, they do indeed do a cooker, just what we were looking for, €899.



So, as much as we weren't keen, we needed a trip to the store in Murcia as I couldn't order it on-line, only in store!



Then, out of the blue (well, after a rather frustrated e-mail to Repsol) I received a phone call telling me that they had the price of the cooker we were interested in, and also a cheaper version (that immediately told me the one we liked was expensive). So, I sent a text with my e-mail address on and the sent me through the details.



A cooker, very similar to the Ikea one was double the price. The cheaper one was more expensive than the one in Ikea and we didn't like it as much. Definitely needed a trip to Ikea.



Now, this could turn into a really long winded post, but that wouldn't achieve much. You've all been to Ikea, you know how it works, it's busy, you spend ages waiting for someone to deal with you (and Spanish queueing is just the same in Ikea, so very confusing) you buy much more than you went for, you wander aimlessly around the aisles looking for the one item you forgot to make a note of, and then you battle your way to a checkout where you wait for an eternity.



Yes, we did all this - we went for a cooker, which will be delivered direct to the house and the extractor hood that we would take home with us. Lucy wanted a small bookcase, a pack of 3 pairs of scissors and a catalogue, well, better make that 2 and we'll have one as well.



So, why then did we end up hiring a van to take home ALL that we bought?



Well, we needed wardrobes for 2 bedrooms, storage in the study, bits for the kitchen - oh, you know how it is. We really couldn't face another trip to Ikea - so we got it all while we were there. Then, of course, it wouldn't fit in the car (not that we tried) and if it had, was so heavy I think the exhaust pipe would have been dragging on the road.



Deliveries are still a bit difficult because we aren't always at the house and even when we are, don't have a phone signal so if they can't find the place (and it isn't easy) they can't get in touch to ask for help.



Then I noticed a sign saying van hire - seemed a good idea. So, we sorted it all out, loaded up and by this time it was after 9pm. So, we had an hours drive to the house, unload, and then an hours drive to home. By the time we had picked the dogs up from Lucy's and arrived home it was almost midnight.



But that's only half the story, because having bought all the stuff to avoid having to have another trip to Ikea, of course now, we had to go back today to return the van! On a Saturday - nightmare!



We'd left the van at the house because we would be paying mileage over 160km, so today we had to do an hour to the house, an hour to Ikea and another hour home. Murcia was manic, Ikea was heaving, the carpark nearest the store was closed because it was full, we couldn't find a petrol station to fill the van up before returning it, and so it goes on.........



But, we are back home now, have everything we need at the house ready to build and get the rooms ready, and we have just over a week before we move in.



I really hope I don't go to Ikea for a long time, and if I do - definitely not on a Saturday.