Rhapsody in turquoise blue

I own a sofa. In fact, if I do a quick tally, I own 4 sofas. And a chair. Two chairs in fact. Wait, I forgot the chairs around the table. Make that 5 chairs. Oh, and the table too. Two tables - there's a small coffee table in the living room. And a wardrobe. And a chest of drawers. And a bed. Although I've never seen the bed, so it doesn't really feel like it counts.

So much furniture, so little space.

Out of all the things I've ever done in life, I don't think anything has made me feel like an actual grown up so much as buying furniture - not even buying my flat. After all, the flat I can let out - owning it is not a commitment to living in it.

But furniture is different. I didn't realise when I bought it all that furniture lays down roots. It's not just furniture, you see, it's my furniture. I find it strange that I seem to be more emotionally involved with the furniture I've bought than with the flat itself. I suppose it makes a degree of sense, since the flat by itself is little more than a blank canvas. It's what I put into the flat that will make it mine. The reason I own so many sofas is because I couldn't quite face the idea of buying the sofa I wanted and then having strange people using it in my absence (the same also applies to the bed). So instead, for my tenant, I put into the flat the cheapest sofas and bed I could find, enough to suffice until I move in there myself and replace it all with something more to my own tastes. But since moving is ever present on my mind I decided to take advantage of the winter sales and buy a sofa in preparation for my eventual return northwards.

I knew exactly what I was looking for. I already had a fairly complete idea of exactly what the living room would look like in the end, and a burgundy leather corner sofa would fit in just perfectly. So I bought a turquoise blue suite instead. It was on sale.

It wasn't exactly an impulsive decision. I liked the shape and feel of the sofa, but the colour was not what I had in mind by a wide margin. So I sat in it. And kept sitting. I discovered that the salesperson took approximately 5 minutes to do a circuit of the shop floor. He also kept trying to be helpful every 5 minutes, which can get very distracting when you're intent on doing some serious sitting. In the end, after about 8 salesperson circuits and having done some concerted reimagining of my future living room, I decided that I could live with the blue. And I bought the suite. I think I detected relief on the salespersons face as I left...

I own a sofa. It's turquoise blue leather, comfortable and mine.

I feel like a grown up.