Memories of Sleeping

Every night we rest so comfortably on our memory foam mattress that bring back many good memories. But we can easily forget the places where we have slept in more primitive conditions.

My first sleeping memories are accompanied by the sounds of bombs dropping all around. It was such a usual sound each night and I was so young that the terror that it caused most people did not occur to me. I also have a very strange vague memory of other people sleeping on platforms in the tube stations of Central London. That was a very strange sight to behold as the train moved through the station. 

We had a small house so I had to sleep on a bunk bed in a shed in the garden. Unfortunately, the heater caught fire and smoked us out of the shed one night so we afterwards had to fit somehow into the house. 

So I was sent to a military school where we slept 20 to a room on very uncomfortable beds with heavy blankets and hard linen sheets which felt as though they had been starched. Fortunately, we were so tired at the end of the day that we could have slept in anything, so that wasn’t a worry. 

On our trips to Germany, to ride around Luneburg Heath on tanks, we had to cross the North Sea sleeping in the bow of the ship which bucked around very vigorously. We were young so it didn’t bother us. We bunked in at the barracks with a cavalry band and slept on the ground after eating wonderful food next to the tanks when we were on the move. 

Managing to escape to the mountains on “survival exercises” was a real treat. Firstly, we were given full commando rations so that we could gorge ourselves on the mountain tops. To test my initiative, somebody took the tent poles from our packs. No worries, as we were using wonderful lightweight pack carriers made of aluminium which we rigged rather low instead of tent poles. 

It always seemed to rain in the mountains and the old tents were not waterproof like they are now. The drill was to take off the wet clothes after we had erected the tent then put them on again in the cold of the early morning. But this enabled us to sleep as dry as possible in our second set of clothes that were always dry. But in the morning we often had to squeeze out the water which had managed to dampened the ends of the sleeping bags. 

Before we managed to gain accommodation into the main College Hall in first year university, we had to live in smaller buildings where we slept four to a room. For most students, this was awful but, after 20 to a room, this was luxury to me. When I finally made it into the main hall in the second and third years, at last I had a room all to myself. Sheer contentment was mine! 

I still enjoyed the mountains. In the Alps, I would sleep in Matratzenlager with people whose socks usually smelt worse than mine. There were often groups in the larger huts and the guides would often pick up one of the guitars on the wall and sing. I also loved the German groups who would sing a song together before setting off before dawn on the hard snow to climb their mountain. 

In the summer, I would take a summer job from June until the beginning of September after which I would use extremely cheap student transport to travel most years around Italy. I understood that, due to the strong socialist feeling in Italy after WW2, towns had given over some of their best buildings to be used as hostels for us. For example the Castello di Ruffo di Scilla was a hostel with the best view in Europe. 

Later, after touring around Italy each year, I travelled to Greece. Arriving in Athens for the first time, I was so overcome by the number of tourists that, after a couple of days, I went down to the harbour and caught an overnight boat to Crete sleeping on the deck. It was beautiful. 

In Athens, we had slept on hotel roofs. It was probably preferable to sleeping in rooms and we were happy to sleep on the hard concrete in the warm air. My first night in Crete was spent sleeping on a bench but thereafter I slept on soft sandy beaches. In fact I slept on almost every beach on Crete. 

Touring the islands was very pleasant. We travelled by night sleeping on the boat deck. Sleeping on the beaches of Thira was not pleasant as they were black and uncomfortable. The people were nice sometimes stopping to give us huge bunches of grapes and wishing us well. Islands infested with tourists were not so pleasant. Most of us liked Ios which had a hill where we all gathered to watch the sunset. 

Sleeping on the best beaches in Crete or the islands was a treat. You only had to move around a little and the fine sand adjusted to your body, better than any mattress available at the time. Sometimes the wind was strong but we then built a little wall of stones to protect us. 

Much later, for some time, I lived in Florence sleeping on a very ancient bed in an abandoned garret built into the side of a chapel in the centre of the old town. Any discomfort was made up by the view from the window to the Duomo. 

Living in Venice for a time, I rented an equally ancient outbuilding of a palace where Wagner had died.It was huge with even more ancient beds. I loved it.

We first came across memory foam in an Australian ALDI store on our way back from Brisbane to Noosa. They were selling off solid memory foam mattresses for $50, Australian dollars. Elsewhere, they were way out of our buying ability at over ten times that amount. We bought one and stuffed it into the back of our car. 

It was wonderful so it was no surprise to find them all sold when we returned to buy another. 

Since that moment we have become more demanding. No more bouncy spring mattresses for us. Each night we sink into a bed of welcoming memory foam which brings back memories of those fine sandy beaches of Southern Crete and Gavdos. Good memories.