On Friday Fives on Beds

[danieldwilliam]

1. What size (twin, full, etc.) is your bed?

We have a king sized bed. That used to be ample when it was just MLW and I. Now that the Captain is eight and quite robust it's not nearly big enough if he decides to come and visit and is then wriggly. Mostly this is him but, where ever he goes at night, Big Seal goes with him. Big Seal, as the name suggests, is quite big.

2. How many pillows do you sleep with?

I have two, one deep,f firm down filled pillow and one flatter, softer foam filled pillow underneath that.

3. Do you have a weighted blanket? If so, does it help you?

I don't. I have a duvet. MLW insists on "weighting" it by tucking it between the mattress and the bed frame. For the sake of marital harmony I pretend not to find this slightly uncomfortable or down right weird. I don't care enough. I've slept for long enough in bad enough conditions in the past that I don't find the physical attributes of the room I'm sleeping in don't much bother me.

4. Do you sleep with any stuffed animals?

Good god no!

Well only if Big Seal gets lonely and comes for a visit with the Captain. Big Seal is at least a peaceful sleeper who has never tried to sit on my head whilst both of us were asleep and then blamed the shape of my face for his own poor sleep.

5. Do you have to have the TV on to go to sleep?

Never. I very occassionally watch the TV in bed if I am tired or ill. I mean, once a quarter occassionally. Since the advent of streaming and digital recording much, much less so. If I'm tired I'll watch the second half of whatever it it I'm watching on catch-up. If I'm ill, I'm either able to make it to the sofa in the family room or I'm asleep.

I consider waking up to discover that I have fallen asleep with the television on to be personal moral failing.

Comments

[mountainkiss]

How big is Big Seal?

[danieldwilliam]

Big Seal is about 75 cm long and about 30 cm wide. Currently most of the stuffing is compacted so it doesn't take up much of the volume that it could do.

[mountainkiss]

Are you thinking that his stuffing is likely to change in the future?

[danieldwilliam]

It has changed in the past. It was plumper when it was younger.

It has been a stable policy measure in our household for many years not to increase the amount of stuffing in Big Seal but the natives are restless and might petition for additional stuffing.

[cmcmck]

I love the assumption that one has a TV in the bedroom.

[danieldwilliam]

That, and also the implication that falling asleep with the TV on might be more common than not.

I quite like television but I grew up in household where television watching was very restricted for several periods. So I'm probably not even a typical Brit in terms of how many televisions I have around the house - but I've probably spent a decade,on and off, living in a house with on average zero televisions.

[alithea]

A Virgin media employee once reacted with shocked disbelief when I told her there is only one TV in my home.

[danieldwilliam]

I was once given detention in Maths as a result of not having a television in the house.

We had a homework assignment to record the number of hours of television watched for the last two weeks of term and the two weeks of winter mid-term and present that data in a chart.

My chart was basically a set of axis and my teacher refused to believe that we didn't have a television and thought I had not done my homework.

[alithea]

We always had a TV but I know at least one person in my school year who didn't have one growing up.

I had a black & white TV at university, which the TV licensing agency kept threatening to come and inspect to make sure it wasn't actually colour, but they never followed through (presumably because people who are prepared to lie on these things just say they don't have one at all).

[danieldwilliam]

Televisions, it's occuring to me, are a bit of strange marker of class in the UK.

Back in the day when they were expensive I'd consider them a marker of middle-class prosperity. Thinking of the stories of people buying them for the coronation or crowding in to someone else's sitting room.

But I think now, *not* having a television I would consider a marker for a particular stripe of middle-class intellectual. Whereas I'd be surprised to find a working class household without one.

What was driving my mum's reluctance to have a television in the house I don't know. Her parents were exactly the sort of properous working class people who would have bought a television before the coronation whilst she herself, back then, took a dim view of the brain addling power of television. It's different now, she loves television now.

As always when my mum acted weirdly back when I was a kid I reckon my step-dad's controlling nature has some part to play in the process.

I didn't have one at uni. My flat mate had one, so we shared that, along with visiting my dad or my mate Marty for the watching of things like the cricket or Friends.

I think the first television I bought was the flat screen television that is currently in my bedroom. Technically a joint household purchase with MLW.

[alithea]

Penny's parents were both teachers and thought TV rotted the mind. She was very brainy but somehow I think she'd probably still have been brainy if she was allowed to watch it! OTOH, I don't think she actually *cared* at the time, although possibly she may have thought she missed out on cultural references once she was older (I have no idea, she moved away when we were about 12 and we lost touch).

I didn't have one as an undergrad - we had a shared hired one for the flat - the B&W one was inherited from a friend and came to Aberdeen with me. My current flat screen TV is only the second TV I have ever bought, my previous one having gone on the fritz about 3 years ago after more than 10 years of service.

[danieldwilliam]

It was almost a relief when MLW's old television failed after about 15 years of service and we could get a flat screen and consequently re-arrange the furniture.

I now have the newer, lighter, flatscreen TV on a angled bracket on the wall. The boardgames go in the press behind it and it sits above the little chatty chair. It's delightfullly practical.

[cmcmck]

I grew up in a working class family which couldn't afford TV. I had my first TV in my mid twenties after uni so it's never really become a central part of my life like hi fi and music have.

Even now, we just have the one which is probably on for three/four hours a week max.

[danieldwilliam]

I go through phases of watching a lot of television or watching very little.

I'm not sure what triggers those phases.

[cmcmck]

With me it's the wildlife shows and folk music on odd channels like Alba or S4C.

With him atm it's the rugby......

[danieldwilliam]

I find myself getting gripped by long form dramas. I usually have three on the go. A shared detective one with my wife, something weighty and something jolly.

And then I suddenly find that I've sat still enough and it's time to do something else.

i watch more live rugby than televised. I go to the majority of home internationals and the occassional Pro14 or domestic league game.

i used to love watching the Edinburgh and Glasgow games on BBC Alba. There was something about rugby commentary in Gaelic that was delightful and I hope that the commentator has found something rewarding to do now that BBC Alba don't have the games any more.

[cmcmck]

Hugh Dan is actually a shinty commentator so I imagine he's gone back to that.

Other half enjoyed the rugby on Alba too.