Chaises and clichés...

I'm suddenly feeling a little bit grown up, I bought my first proper piece of furniture today, the sofa pictured above. At the very least, our new flat is going to have a very nice sofa. We thought about the red, but in the end we went with the safe brown option.

So, Tino and I spent Saturday being one of "those" couples. You know the ones, spending their weekend visting endless superstores in search of the perfect sofa/bed/dining table/chairs. I'm discovering a whole new side to London, the superstore super suburb, these are pockets of London that are dedicated solely to furniture, carpets, beds and DIY. It's the scariest thing I've ever seen! Anyone who knows their MFI's from their DFS's and B&Q's knows what I'm talking about.

Of course, we went where all couples end up at sometime, Ikea. Now, anyone knows I love Ikea, but I find it one of the most anxiety inducing experiences possible. It is akin to seeing a spider on the shower curtain and knowing you have to get past it to get out of the shower and no, you can't stay in the shower all day.

Ikea is seriously scary to me, not because of the massive amounts of people there, the rat-in-a-maze feeling you get as you make your way around it, nor the bizarre feeling you get when you realise you can no longer survive without a bright red pineapple slicer, but because I spend the whole time wandering around with Tino trying not to become a statistic. I am petrified from the minute I walk in the oversized yellow doors that we will become a cliche couple in a massive arguement over whether to get beech or birch veneer on your Tabba table!

I'm pleased to say that despite the fact that it was the hottest day of the year outside and Tino being desperate to get outside into it, our relationship (and our credit cards) emerged still in tact. Tino even found something he wanted to buy!

Anna......