Tram to Sweden

I’d arranged to hire a Zipcar at 9 a.m. this morning. We’ve been having a slow clear-out of things from the back of cupboards and decided that some of those things needed to go to the Garth Road Recycling Centre. I picked up the car, drove to the house and loaded it up, and then drove to the recycling centre and back within an hour. That was quite a productive Saturday morning.

We then walked towards Wimbledon, where we picked up a tram to Croydon so that we could visit Ikea. The sign to the tram stop is just outside the Ikea store. I do like wandering around Ikea even if I am not buying anything. This visit, however, we had a purpose, as we are looking for furniture for the Isle of Wight flat. We have a very specific thing in mind and are looking for simplicity. We were mainly investigating sofas, and we came away with a couple of candidates, although we think we will go for the smaller of the two. I think we also found a unit that will work as a TV stand.

Of course, we came away with a few bits from the shop and some pickled herring from the little food store after the exit.

Just after 6 p.m., we walked down to Wimbledon Chase to catch the Thameslink to Streatham. We went for dinner at Mark and Rob’s house, and it was a lovely night. It’s so easy to spend the evening with them. We are already thinking about a holiday next year. They suggested Italy.

Although the evening merged into the morning, it’s helpful that the 57 bus runs from near their house to Raynes Park 24 hours a day. We caught a bus at about 1:40 a.m., which took about half an hour to get us home. It’s so much faster when there is no traffic in the middle of the night, although it has been surprisingly busy the couple of times we have done this, and tonight was no exception.