Many years ago when IKEA first opened in Reims I naturally assumed that the ethos of IKEA worldwide would be the ethos of this newly opened store in France. Free coffee to IKEA Family members, generous offers and free gifts. So it was that I, being full of hope, made my husband drive across town early one weekend as below:-

‘The newly opened IKEA promised prizes to the first customers of the day. Persuading my husband to leave our bed early on a Saturday morning was the hardest part. My daughter assured me that IKEA was incredibly generous and gave out vouchers of varying amounts at the door and someone she knew had got £70 worth! Arriving just before opening time, I was second in the queue, behind a man. In fact, I was last in the queue too, as there were only the two of us. The doors opened and the manager gave us both a mug and indicated we should go upstairs to the coffee bar.

That was it! We could have a coffee in the mug that was the prize! No tokens, no vouchers – did they know that in English ‘a mug’ has another meaning?’

Actually, I became quite fond of that mug. For a while it was my preferred coffee cup. But a random unmatched mug is no use when we have guests, a random unmatched mug doesn’t add any beauty to a full tray of matching mugs. We have 8 matching mugs that we use nearly every morning, 2 blue, 2 yellow, 2 red and 2 orange. They are sturdy and keep the coffee nice and warm until the last dregs. The one lonely IKEA mug has been lurking at the back of the cupboard.

Today, I took it back!

For the last 2 years we have been downsizing with the aim of returning to the UK. At every opportunity, goods are being donated to charity shops in the UK, given away to friends or found new homes. Several cupboards are now completely empty.

We now go to IKEA quite regularly, especially in winter as a walk around the 2 floors gives us 3,200 steps. We are even encouraging friends to meet us there. It could take off as a friendly social gathering. So, today I took back that mug that I had won as a prize more than 15 years ago. The mugs are still of the same design. So no-one will notice that there is one extra mug in the cafeteria, except if you look at the bottom it has a indelibly inked smily face and says ‘JOY’!