Interesting Day
Posted in Mixed Bag Special on November 6th 2004 by Randy Reichardt:: It began by rising at 0545 hrs, driving to Kathryn’s house to pick her up and drive her to the airport to fly to Cincinnati. I returned home and went back to sleep. When I awoke, I putzed around and then decided it was time to put up the Christmas lights, which took about two hours.
Then I went to Ikea – the Ikea store here is new, but only in that it’s a new building. Ikea has been in Edmonton for years, first at WEM (still the planet’s largest mall – yes, it’s bigger than Mall of America – but apparently not for long), then the store moved to the south side, and earlier this year, to the south south side of the city. It’s the first thing you see when you drive north into Edmonton on Highway 2.
It’s an enormous store, the size of a few football fields. The customer service is outstanding, and – this isn’t trivial – the frickin’ shopping carts are so much fun to push around. They are silent – no spinning wheels – and have four wheel drive. Wal-Mart, Safeway, Costco – are you paying attention? The Swedes have been on to something good for years. Ikea serves a $1 breakfast every day – gotta try that soon. Today I bought some light blue Gullmaj curtains, grey Index wall fittings, an Index curtain rod (grey), and Index Sarita finials. I’m going to attempt to install the curtains in front of my new sliding door by myself. (Mike Nichols, stop laughing now!) The staff person said to wash and dry the curtains first. The curtains are in the dryer, and at the moment seem to have lost some of their colour. I’ll check them tomorrow morning.
This evening I went to the movies, ostensibly to see Birth. I arrived and was told the 7:30 show was cancelled for a sneak preview. Immediately annoyed and with little time to decide what else to see or else leave, I chose Napoleon Dynamite instead, which was a total hoot. I was surprised to find the theatre packed – the movie had played at our art house cinema previously for a few weeks, so I thought the theatre would be 90% empty. Word: if you haven’t seen the movie and plan to, DO NOT leave when the credits begin. The movie resumes after the credits and continues for about 10 minutes. The credits are great – each one is served on a plate of food.
