Not Known For Being Conventional

Noel and I are not known for being conventional.

• We’ve lived and worked on boats of various shapes, sizes and construction for many years.
  
• We’ve travelled to foreign lands where our crew spoke little English
  
• We’ve sailed off in two different directions to strange ports with odd people, on questionable craft – wondering if we’d ever see each other again.
  
• We’ve disappeared into the Australian bush for months on end with five beasts and a tent. 

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So, I shouldn’t be that perturbed when we stood out in Ikea!

Most people buy at Ikea because the items are flat-packed. That was our idea when we wanted two armchairs for our barge. Rouge Corsair’s innards could cope with reasonably sized chairs, but the entrance-way could not.

After much seeking for the ‘right' chairs, a new model that suited all our wants and needs appeared in Ikea. Perfect, that is, until we learned that they are probably the only item in the entire store that is packed into a large size! They are not flat-packed, just wrapped.

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I love it when a plan comes together
We rarely have use of a car, we live simply, cycling to shops and saving our pennies to maintain our nomadic lifestyle. Recent visitors were on their way home and we returned their hire car after dropping them at the airport.

After bidding our farewells, we nipped around the corner to Ikea. Noel had brought along an array of tools, just in case. The chairs looked like they came apart with simple Allen/Hex keys. So we took the plunge and handed over vast wads of cash.

The 308 Peugot wasn’t that big and seemed to shrink as the day grew older. We wheeled our new chairs into the car park and while other customers lifted their flat packed furniture into their cars, we lifted ours onto the concrete floor.

We opened the boxes, threw away excess packaging and tried to ignore the staring employees and nervous titters in our direction.

In true Parry form, we commenced with taking them apart. It wasn’t as straightforward as we thought. The hint should have been that Ikea hadn’t taken them apart in the first place!

But after a few cuss words, a couple of pinched fingers and much giggling (and odd glances) we squeezed our, now-in-bits chairs into the tiny boot. They only just fitted.

Assembly was quick and easy, well it was for me as I handed Noel the tools he needed and held ‘this there please.’

We make fun out of everything we do, sailing around the world, riding horses, exploring European canals or buying armchairs.

Foot-rest that folds in/out
Good back support
Head-rest
Specific size and colour

What marvellous feat of engineering have you performed for a little comfort?