I so swore I wouldn't...

... and yet here I am.
You cannot berate Satan until you have taken one good look at him in the eye...

As you can see from the two impeccably behaved kids in the shopping trolley, the conditions were right for a relaxing and satisfying shopping experience...

I must admit that today I was able to have a good look at marketing genius in action.

From the super fast trolleys that were great for karting around the car park (I should have stuck to this with Mimi and Luca , for we did have fun setting up the first Irish bobsleigh team with a flat pack trolley on the brand new and super smooth tarmac of the massive car park)...
... to the crash barriers at the entrance to regulate the queues of shoppers (never used but it makes you feel super lucky and content with yourself for indeed picking the right time to shop in the Mecca of varnished MDF [Medium Density Fibreboard], two emotions that lead your average punter to spend more than initially planned)...
...to the carefully planned imposed tour within the glorified warehouse...
... to the astutely dimmed lighting that makes cheap furniture look that little less cheap...
... to the tons of accessories and toys and books that give a genuine lived-in look to 40 square meters of kiddies bedroom in a warehouse north of Ballymun...

Marketing genius indeed.
IKEA is cheap. But sadly too, it's cheap.

These guys real skill is to make you believe that you are going to get good quality items for a song.
You do get a lot of items for cheap. But cheap they are.
The restaurant is relatively cheap. The food in it is most definitely cheap.

I was amazed at the docility of the middle-class masses in search of their IKEA variation for their suburban place of residence...

I am surprised at my own docility as we left the Mecca with an offering of EUR236 to the High Priest of Marketing (and cheap Swedish meat balls with pasta)