the evil swedes do it again.

first off, obviously my heading is sarcastic. many of you will realize that straight away if you've heard about my own experience going to the ikea in neasden (zone three, london). I heard about the outcome of the edmonton store's opening this morning on the radio and was shocked. really, what happened to cause these prospective consumers to a mass of frantic anxiousness? certainly, it couldn't just be the prospect of a £35 leather sofa. or could it? crazy things are amiss in ikea land.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/02/10/ikea.stabbing/

http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/about_ikea/press_room/press_release/international/IKEA_edmonton.html

if the crowd's reaction was ignited with the clock reaching 12:01, what does this say about this society's nature of consumption? what does it say about that specific crowd's apparent need to shop? what about the individual shoppers? dissertation topic, anyone? (have I already mentioned how I seem to think of several topic ideas each day, none which are suitable for my own project?)

anyway, the point of all of this was for me to realize that my own trip to ikea, while long, laborious, and stressful, could have been much, much worse. (a silver lining to it all.)