The voices made me do it

Like most people, I prefer to think of myself as someone relatively immune to the adverse influence of advertising, despite the fact that like most people I'm bombarded with it near constantly throughout my waking hours. Still, I'm comforted by the illusion that such efforts are wasted upon me.

However, today I was entrapped by a new ploy: A talking window. I was merrily strolling down the street, minding my own thoughts as per usual, when I was distracted by the unmistakable sound of a voice trying to persuade me to buy something. I wasn't actually interested in the marketing schtick so much as I was puzzled as to where it was emanating from. I looked around for the source without noting any obvious speakers. Then I closed my eyes and listened and realised that it didn't appear to be coming from a single point. I walked in the general direction of where I believed the epicenter should be and found that I'd reached a shop window, probably some 7 or 8 feet square. Curious now, I pressed my hand against the glass and felt the unmistakable vibrations of a speaker. I peered closer and saw a small device attached to the lower left corner of the window. I went inside to take a closer look at it.

And that's when it hit me and my error became clear. I'd been lured into a furniture store (MFI, if you're curious). It was a trick of some kind, especially since there was no furniture store where I was, only a... only a boarded up shop front on which a score of construction workers had been busying themselves for the last couple of weeks... oops. Should have seen that one coming. I've been avoiding furniture stores for a while now, ever since an unfortunate encounter with Fired Earth a few weeks ago left me pondering the cost of a new bathroom suite. I came to the conclusion that as I new flat owner I was still overly sensitive to the nefarious influences of furniture stores and home improvement programmes and that both were best avoided. Consequently, this was no place for me to be - I had to leave immediately before I was enraptured with some new... and then I saw it. The answer to my storage dreams. My flat you see (the one that I'm still steadfastly not living in despite having owned it for over a year now) is just a tad, how to put it, compact and bijou. As a result one of my concerns is where I'm going to put... stuff (the ellipses are mandatory and must be pronounced) . I've lived in small spaces for most of my life and the proper storage of... stuff is of paramount importance to me. It's not a desperate worry, more of a problem to which a solution had yet to present itself - until today . I found myself gazing upon a beautiful fitted bedroom suite whose dimensions and layout near perfectly reflected my own bedroom - and my own tastes. It included a wall of wardrobes and drawers! So many drawers, so many places to put... stuff. I've no idea what sort of repuation MFI have these days, but it all looked solidly put together and everything closed with a satisfying "thunk".

I've now added a new bedroom to my list of potential flat purchases. And all because of a talking window. It's definitely an interesting bit of technology, albeit with the potential to be hugely intrusive, not to mention the possibility of misuse by evil marketing departments. Sigh.