When I was teaching, Sundays meant fitting in those last weekend events while still trying to finish up those papers I needed to grade to hand back on Monday. Those in the teaching world I’m sure will recognize the phenomenon in which the longer it is before you return work to the students, the less they’ll care about it.
Now in retirement land, it’s usually anyone’s bet what day of the week it is. But I am able to spot Sundays because it’s the day the bed gets changed.
And by the way, whose great idea was it to
create pillowtop mattresses? Seemed like a good thing – more cush! – when I
bought it, but now I can’t flip it to delay localized sag.
So instead, I spun the mattress, top
to bottom and bottom to top. And as I shook out the sheets, I wondered – When
were sheets invented?
According to one source – from a nice company trying to sell me bedding on line – we found refuge from our scratchy blankets sometime in the 15th century when Rashid Sab-Anah invented the flat sheet in Cairo.
In the 16th century, the Greeks and Romans
were already stuffing their pillows with straw and down feathers. Like so many
other things, that part of the world was way ahead of some of us a who were probably still snoozing with the sheep.
And “hitting the hay?” That’s a
carryover from the Middle Ages, when the poorer folks slept on sacks of hay,
which had to be beaten daily to drive out the resident bugs.
I'll remember this when I snuggle into my nice warm bed with sheets tonight!
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing "resident bugs" were in every type of bedding back then!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm pretty sure ride-alongs could be found in ladies' coiffures and those fancy white wigs.
DeleteUgh! Resident bugs. There is a company in Australia that makes mattresses with removable pillow tops so you can remove the extra "cush", flip the mattress, then put the pillow top back on. I think it has velcro to hold it in place.
ReplyDeleteI remember hearing my mother talk about putting new straw in the old bed mattresses. Also, my dad used to say, at bedtime. he was "fixing to hit the hay". Sometimes he would say he was "fixing to fly up on the roost" and that would always make me laugh.
ReplyDelete