2267 Anyone need any alum keys?

After a trip to Ikea I find I have rather an over abundance of them!

Many thanks to all those that offered advice, my xmas trip to Le Marche went brilliantly to plan.
Can recommend Ikea Rome on Xmas eve - almost empty and not too stressful. Easy to find from the airport too - we filled our clapped out Thrifty rentavan with coffee tables, dining tables, chairs, crockery, pic frames (but no pebbles of course), cushions etc etc and headed for the hills.Was delighted that the van was clapped out (with a 1000 euro excess we made the rental guy write an essay about how knackered it was) - even a few 'dings' would not have been noticed and the engine was fine..

Met lovely George (dogs doing fine) on route to the house with bags of food for us. What a hero.The big supermarket outside Fermo was open but the carpark was heaving and after a big drive from Rome it was great not to have to join the mad melee within.

My mates and husband made like Santa's little pixies all xmas day, all the bits and pieces I had sent from the Uk arrived, house is looking significantly fabber. Job done and me a very happy woman.

Very glad we got enough food and drink in for a couple of days - Boxing day found the place resembling Deadsville Arizona when we ventured out.

Had a fabulous meal at the Contrada Durano on 27th - can't recommend it highly enough. Yum! Cheesy truffley hammy crumbly pastry naughtiness.

Thought we would leave time for a leisurely lunch in L'Aquila on the return trip to Rome. Came through the Gran Sasso tunnel (cor thats a biggie)to find ourselves in a blizzard and followed gingerly in the tracks of lorries almost all the way to Rome at 50kph - made the flight with 10 mins to spare before it closed. Leisurely lunch became a hilarious selection of cheese and ham toasties at a service statiion - how can the Italians have 12 versions of a basic cheese/ham combo but virtually nothing else?! Catching the flight was a bit touch and go especially when my husband wedged the van against poles entering the car park - they are not designed to take vans I fear. Thank god for all the previous dents..

Back in March - just napped a 1p flight to Ancona from Ryanair - offer lasts till tomorrow night I think. Hope that Ikea is open there by then - that'll be my chest of drawer and wardrobe run. Can't wait to be back, I'm aching for the place already...

Happy new year to all!

M