It is well known that The Chinese like to have a sleep at lunchtime. Wherever they are they like to have a short nap to refresh themselves for the afternoon. This could be their desks or under a bush, on a path or at the railway station.
But by far the best place to sleep is in a bed and where can a Chinese person be sure to find lots of very comfy beds? Yes – IKEA. So it follows that if you go to IKEA at lunchtime you will find the beds full of sleeping snoring people. They also sleep on the sofas, heads on study desks, the whole shop is like a giant dormitory.
So we thought, as it was the last book club for Lynn, Sarah and Loretta, that we would hold it at IKEA in one of the room sets. Sarah had done a recce and found one which looked roomy enough. We had to pull up a few more chairs and it was just the job.We had several bottles of champagne and brought a glass each. And we spent a lovely hour and a half sitting in the room set talking about books (amongst other things).
Some of the shoppers were bemused to see us there and several stopped to take photos. But most people walked by without even a glance. After all, to a Chinese customer, what could be surprising about people making
themselves at home in an IKEA room set?
After we cleaned up the room set and put the furniture back we moved on to the bed section where we availed ourselves of the facilities – again with no staff or other customers batting an eye. It was only us who were in stitches and laughing loudly.
With the IKEA restaurant, dozens of room sets, chairs, tables and beds, IKEA could be the answer to my accommodation question at the end of the summer. It’s cheap, comfy and seemingly completely acceptable to make yourself at home.