If you have not already done so, do take a look at the jollifications regarding readers’ nightwear on James’s site: the “parade” really cheered me up and now it has got me thinking not only of what I wear in bed [perfume] but of what I keep beside my bed and how this has changed since I came to Sicily. Here is the list:
Mobile [which also serves as an alarm clock].
List of phone numbers of the “army of men” [all neighbours] who have instructed me not to hesitate to call them if I am disturbed like this again. [Not that the numbers aren’t keyed in; it’s just that in an emergency it can be as quick to look at a piece of paper and dial a number as to find it in the rubrica.] Mine is the last generation that can remember not having a mobile and it does make me feel more secure at night; there was always the fear, before, that someone intent on evil could cut the landline wires.
Lipsalve.
Foot cream. [Well, where else can you put it on but sitting on the bed? If you apply it in the bathroom you will slip on the way to the bedroom!]
Mineral water in one of those carafes with a conical thingie in the middle for ice. [You’re either a night-time drinker or you’re not and I always have been, though I suspect all of you would be during a Sicilian summer! In Britain I’d have the mineral water there but the ice wouldn’t be necessary.]
Asthma inhaler [which I rarely need to use since coming here].
Reading matter and one of those mini-lights you can clip to the book [for having even a bedside lamp on during the summer just makes it hotter].
Glasses.
A notebook for blog inspiration that comes in the night [as it will] and for shopping list additions I think of at 3 am!
A large torch in case of an electricity cut or – heaven forbid – an earthquake. [Regular readers may recall that I put the last early hours tremor down to amorous activity in the flat above!]
Handbag on the floor: a girl may have to do emergency make-up repairs during the night sometimes, you know and it is also there in case I have to scarper because of a quake. I’ve a pair of pull-on trousers and a top nearby for the same reason and also in case the water lorry turns up at an unearthly hour [it did so at 06.50 once] and we have to go down to sign.
In summer I rig up a fan by the bed but usually finish the night off on the sofa in the lounge, dozing under the air conditioner. [A student told me the other day that he sleeps on the floor in summer but I would surely bash my head on the tiles and be no more if I tried that.]
Mobile [which also serves as an alarm clock].
List of phone numbers of the “army of men” [all neighbours] who have instructed me not to hesitate to call them if I am disturbed like this again. [Not that the numbers aren’t keyed in; it’s just that in an emergency it can be as quick to look at a piece of paper and dial a number as to find it in the rubrica.] Mine is the last generation that can remember not having a mobile and it does make me feel more secure at night; there was always the fear, before, that someone intent on evil could cut the landline wires.
Lipsalve.
Foot cream. [Well, where else can you put it on but sitting on the bed? If you apply it in the bathroom you will slip on the way to the bedroom!]
Mineral water in one of those carafes with a conical thingie in the middle for ice. [You’re either a night-time drinker or you’re not and I always have been, though I suspect all of you would be during a Sicilian summer! In Britain I’d have the mineral water there but the ice wouldn’t be necessary.]
Asthma inhaler [which I rarely need to use since coming here].
Reading matter and one of those mini-lights you can clip to the book [for having even a bedside lamp on during the summer just makes it hotter].
Glasses.
A notebook for blog inspiration that comes in the night [as it will] and for shopping list additions I think of at 3 am!
A large torch in case of an electricity cut or – heaven forbid – an earthquake. [Regular readers may recall that I put the last early hours tremor down to amorous activity in the flat above!]
Handbag on the floor: a girl may have to do emergency make-up repairs during the night sometimes, you know and it is also there in case I have to scarper because of a quake. I’ve a pair of pull-on trousers and a top nearby for the same reason and also in case the water lorry turns up at an unearthly hour [it did so at 06.50 once] and we have to go down to sign.
In summer I rig up a fan by the bed but usually finish the night off on the sofa in the lounge, dozing under the air conditioner. [A student told me the other day that he sleeps on the floor in summer but I would surely bash my head on the tiles and be no more if I tried that.]
Simi’s bed [one of the three she has] is on the other side of mine but usually she sleeps on top of me so is not disturbed by any of this paraphernalia.
What’s your bedside list?
What’s your bedside list?
17 comments:
Hmm Alarm clock, books, nail scissors, tissues (for colds and sniffles, honest!) box for cufflinks, collar bones etc ipod generally and sometimes Ted, especially in the morning when he knocks things off to announce it's time for his breakfast!
Before falling into the feathers I'd put glasses and cellular (turned off) on the sill.
Thus I am (slightly) sure that when my rooster crows I'll jump up to wring his neck - err - switch of the alarm.
Without this 'trick' I'd run the risk to switch off and return to the land of the dreamers.
In this sense, the peace of the night. :)
I have so much next to my bed at the moment i couldn't possibly list it all. I tend to pile stuff up so that it becomes impossible to find anything until, one day, in desperation, I tidy!
Oh a new meme, Welshcakes? Lamp, clock radio with CD player(CDs in the drawer along with the torch), bottle of water (I just swigg it straight from the bottle), foot cream, hand cream, emery board, tissues, nail strengthener stuff in a bottle and glasses after lights out. No room for books so these are on chair next to bedside table and overflowing onto the floor quite often!
This makes me smile I see we keep similar things by the bed.
My list:
Bedside lamp
Several Books
Lipsalve
A couple of Tissues
My watch
A pint of water
My glasses (I wear contacts mostly)
Pad and pen in bedside cabinet
My handbag on the floor - it is my lifeline... I keep my mobile phone in there too (I can't do without it even though I don't us it much! I know my friends are close by)
Hi, jmas. I can just imagine Ted doing that! I have the same problem of possibly returning to the land of dreamers, Sean! Hi, Liz. Glad I'm not the only one with an untidy bedside! Jmb, have I thought of a meme ? - Blimey! I forgot about tissues.... Hi, cheerypie. Similar lists! - You reassure me I am not mad...
As you might notice I feature rather prominently inmy dormant state in his Lordshipspost...
I do not seem to have your email address Ms Limoncello,mineis mutleydotthedogatgmaildotcom...
Oh my, I'm a real piker (whatever that means) as the only things on my bedside table (if you discount the dust) are a lamp and a box of tissues. Need to get busy and add more stuff. :)
Tissues and a lady.
I love the idea of all of us, so very scattered, snuggling down with our little table of necessities to hand - there's definitiely a common thread going on here - mine has:
lamp, alarm clock, radio (permanently tuned to Radio 4), tissues, telephone, RHS Garden magazine (latest issue), water, tottering heap of books, spare glasses (in case I forget to bring them upstairs), cashmere bedsocks (permanently cold feet, but not when I get into bed so they need to be at hand), handcream
how very sad and middle-aged but somehow extremely comforting!
Hi, Mutley. I will email you. Hi, flutterby. I don't know what a "piker" is either! Yes, get some clutter on there! Of course, James. Hi, Sally. Yes, it 's kind of bonding, isn't it? My radio used to be permanently tuned to R4 in Britain, too. Love the cashmere socks!
I'm usually rather tidy and I have 2 bedside tables. There's a lamp on each and on the one at the side where I sleep is an alarm clock, my glasses, a book, and lotion. On the other side is the telephone, a ceramic musical teddy and a tiny little lady ornament that was my mother's. That's it. But my desk is another story! Don't ask! lol
Hi, Leslie. My desk is an absolute tip! I don't know how it gets that way...
I have most of the things listed by others - at my bedside. But these days I also have a pair of crutches as I recently fractured my ankle while exploring the Mayan ruins of Tikal in Guatemala.
Oh, TF, I am so sorry - but what an adventurous lady you are!
great post WL, I love getting to know people through things like this :) Beside my bed I have a bedside lamp, which usually has earrings hanging off it because I forget to take them off before laying down, a pile of scrapbooking and beading magazines, my mobile phone, which I use as an alarm clock. Oh also my sorboline cream, for rubbing on feet before bed! i usually keep a change of clothes hung over the foot of my bed just in case ;)
Hi, Kyles. We think much alike on this one! I' m always leaving my earrings on!
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