Intelligence = Assembling flat pack furniture

Nothing quite tests your IQ like deciphering the instructions that come with flat pack furniture and successfully assembling the item. This is even more apparent when the items come from the Swedish giant, Ikea. It generally includes illustrations of funny looking but fearless cartoon men and series of pictures which all look identical but apparently tell you what to do and what not to do.
The whole Ikea experience is one that you approach with some trepidation to be fair; starting with the decision to enter the gigantic warehouse-style stores especially as it is a given that you will end up with a trolley full of relatively inexpensive things you had no idea you needed when you entered the store over two hours earlier. There is also the anxiety that comes with looking for the items you want in their flat pack form after seeing them nicely assembled on display and ensuring that you have each component needed. This is followed by the fear of pulling a muscle or breaking some part of your not so supple body as you struggle to place the heavy boxes on your cart and wheel them to the cash till.
Like me, you may also fall into the category of the 'brave and stupid' who decide to transform their ordinary car into a delivery van in order to avoid the £25 or £35 delivery charge. Under any other circumstance, the thought of logging an item that obstructs your rear view in your car or causes you to break into so much sweat as you try to secure it in the car, would not even cross your mind. Yet this seems like a relatively effortless exercise after the obstruction course you've already been through in the store.
The experience culminates in the assembly which is to be approached after either some Dutch courage or some form of mental preparation where you convince yourself that yes you can turn these 96 planks of wood and 173 screws and bolts into a bunk bed. I realise that men may scoff at this advice but I believe in reading and re-reading the instructions, checking all the components are there before approaching the exercise in small easily digestible actions, taking the items you need for each section and completing that section before approaching the remaining bits.

I may have underestimated what a challenge I was facing but 4 hours, and some mastery of using the allen key later, I achieved my goal.....a beautiful bunk bed that I would have been quite happy to enter into a competition as proof of my intelligence. It was a tough job but I think I proved my worth and was left feeling if I could achieve this, there was little else I couldn't do. Bring on the advanced Sudoku and the Times crossword puzzle.