How To Grow Old Before Your Time

Friday we drove to Bordeaux and the purpose was twofold. One, buy a new carpet for a missionary apartment in Brive La Gaillard and two; buy two chairs for an apartment near downtown Bordeaux. The idea was to go to IKEA, have lunch in their restaurant, buy the goods and be back home by 6pm. The famous gps had us go along the river in downtown Bordeaux to get to IKEA. Traffic was awful. Along the way, we passed many small restaurants full of happy people eating lunch. My thought was…I’m going to IKEA for lunch? What’s with that? Anyway, we got to IKEA which has been under renovation since 2009 and I asked how to get to the restaurant and was told it was…CLOSED. At this point I am not happy. Add to that the fact that the carpet section was also closed. I then received a call for the young women at their apartment in Bordeaux asking if we could find them a small rug. Aaarg! Frustration level up.


I was starving so we walked over to the Auchan cafeteria where I promptly walked into a support for an umbrella in the outdoor eating area. Frustration level way up. Once inside I found redemption. The special of the day was steamed mussels and french fries, all you can eat. I made a pig of myself and my frustration level went to zero.

We decided to return to IKEA for the chairs but on the way stopped at the French version of the Home Despot (Home Depot) and found a rug that would be perfect for the apartment in Bordeaux. I put it in the car and returned to IKEA. Going to IKEA is like going to any mall and having to go into each and every store, past every item for sale before being let out the exit. We did find the chair we wanted but were told that it would have to be paid for there, but picked up at a warehouse down the street. Aaarg! Frustration level went back up. By accident we did find a small carpet for the apartment in Brive. Yes! Frustration level went down. We paid for the items and headed to the warehouse and picked up the two chairs and headed to the apartment in Bordeaux. The gps said it would take 15 min and it took 45min. Traffic was bad. Aarg! Frustration level back up. We got to their apartment only to find that they had left and would not be back for an hour. So, I decided to assemble the chairs on the sidewalk in front of the apartment.(see photo) I got one chair put together and tried to put the other together only to find out it was missing an important part. Aarg! Frustration level up. We left their rug and one chair in the entry and returned to the IKEA warehouse only to be told I would have to go back to the main store. There is no way in to the customer service except by going all the way through the store. I sneaked in the back way. I was told to take a number. They were on #210 and my number was #235. Oh my! I sent my wife to get a couple of ice cream cones. When I got to the counter my wife returned saying she had to buy the cones at the cashier’s desk but when she got to the machine it was not working. She was just standing there with two empty cones. Aarg! The nice lady at the desk informed me that she did not have the piece I needed but it would be mailed to me sometime in the next 10 to 15 days. At that point I gave up and started looking for a box cutter to slit my wrists. We returned to the ice cream machine and it was finally working. I was going to head home a different way but there was a bad accident on the bridge which held up traffic for two hours, so we had to go through town. It took 1.5hrs to get to the freeway and 1.5 hrs to get home.

For some reason, I feel much older today. But, I am waiting patiently for the part from IKEA. Thanks for listening, I feel much better