vailian

Tinakala, that bizarre but entertaining Estonian siren, has lured me into doing my first meme. 6 Weird Things about my sleeping habits.
1. I hate soft mattresses. As a kid I had an abandoned hospital bed-- we didn't have much money and I think my dad found it on a junkyard-- I loved the cranks and handles, I took all the excess machinery off and rigged up some hinges so I could fold it up against the wall during the daytime. We were six kids, and I wanted a bedroom of my own, but the only space left was a storage cupboard in the cellar, which measured 2 meters by 1 1/2, so the folding bed was a necessity.
Anyhow, the mattress was very hard (probably only some kind of an undermattress) but I got used to it. In college I had to choose between buying a camera and buying a bed, and the camera won. I slept on the floor. When I moved to London, I found that I was in the Land of Squishy, and slept on the floor.
After I got married (I was in Germany by that time), a bed seemed appropriate. But I never got used to having a normal mattress, and after a couple of years I bought us a specially firm bed. Perhaps it ruined my marriage, don't know.
Now, even though I have a huge apartment with a number of quite decent beds, I sleep in a tiny alcove that sits on top of a wooden construction I made (see picture above), on a thin mattress. It is very cosy.
2. I always hold my breath for about 15 seconds as part of the relaxing process before going to sleep. It helps drive the excess music out of my head.
3. I hate mushy pillows, feel like I am being suffocated. Given a soft pillow in a hotel, I rather do without completely.
4. The German system of not having blankets, but those lightweight feather filled duvets, which are sheet and blanket in one, is fantastic! They are warm in winter and not too hot for much of what passes for summer here, and I would never go back I think to the American system of thick (usually synthetic) overblankets and sheets, or (even worse) the English system with nasty scratchy terrycloth sheets and multiple thin nasty blankets (shudder).
5. If it is cold (I don't ever heat the bedroom)I go to bed with socks on, but sometime during the night they somehow get removed. I have never figured out how this happens, and have never consciously taken them off. Very mysterious. Proves the existence of the sock fairy.
6. I always believed that I didn't snore, but there are some indications that I am capable of it, it is not loud but is exacerbated by wine.

I am nervous about tagging, but if I were tagging, I would hit Carol and Christina G.