No place like home

Well we did the next bit of reconfiguring the house today - a trip to IKEA for a smaller dining table and some other bits. The whole place feels very different and really lovely; more spacious and yet more cosy.

The cats like it too, Fat Boy in particular sat on the coffee table shelf with his tail sticking out, like a very poor calibre contestant in a feline hide and seek contest.

Going to IKEA at Wembley was the beginning of an odyssey as TSM took me around her old North London haunts, culminating in pulling up outside her childhood home just as the mother of the house was coming out. She very kindly gave us the full tour, which was very emotional for TSM, as that house had a lot of memories including a fire that gutted half the building.

Then had lunch in the most fabulous little cafe in Sunny Hill Park. You must try this if you are anywhere in North London on a warm day. We sat eating falafel and humus and flatbread in the spring sunshine - a little bit of middle eastern cuisine just up the road from Hendon.

Ended up in Golders Green and did some big time kosher shopping, including the most gorgeous bagels from Carmelli's (if you ever go there don't miss it - this is the bakery of the gods).

Evening was taking up with flatpacking - fortunately The Smiling Giant was a star and did the bigger bit of the self assembly which was very welcome.

So how come, after all that North London experience, did I end up blipping an IKEA flatpack? Simple. Made the schoolboy error - again - of forgetting to put the memory card back in my D90 after downloading pics ... oh the frustration!

I've had a fabulous long weekend - going back to work tomorrow won't wipe the smile off this face.