Hammock update
I sort of left you hanging about my hammock in previous entires. I told you I got my birthday hammock up, and then I told you it was useless. I didn't tell you that I ordered another one, from a shop in Camdem Lock Market (Penny alerted me to it.) I don't know how I never saw this shop when I was last at Camden Lock market! They sell Mayan handmade hammocks for sleeping in, like the one I slept in in Mexico all those years ago, and the one I brought back as a present for my mum.
It is big, beautiful, comfortable and strong. It is red and orange coloured, in a sort of flame effect, and I slept in it for a week before reverting to teh mattress for two weeks, then another week in the hammock. Each has its advantages. Sleeping in a hammock is wonderful, I'm floating, I'm cocooned in the air, swaying slightly, and I feel special. Sometimes I feel an ecstasy of joie de vivre in it. Sometimes I just can't be bothered and just want to flumpf on the more terrestrial, simple mattress. Some say a hammock is bad for your back, but the Mayans seem to manage. Still, I hedge my bets by alternating.
I say "just can't be bothered" because sleeping in a hammock in an Yorkshire winter is quite an undertaking. Not only do you need blankets above you as you do in a bed, you also need blankets below you. i am quite sensitive to the cold at night and I like to be covered up from head to toe. As I am quite tall this is difficult at teh best of time and often involves sleeping hunched over. In a hammock I need to be covered top and bottom, side to side, head to toe, with at least one sheet and two layers of blanket, duvet and sleeping bag. I basically sleep with all the bedding I possess, even that which was initially bought for guests. When guests have been over recently I've had to fob them off with unwashed linen, shock horror. even all this isn't quite enough on a real cold night, I have to throw on ponchos and curtains and miscellaneous vestments.
then you have to watch they don't fall off. Some people havve said they wouldn't sleep in a hammock for fear of falling out, but in fact it's impossible to fall out of a hammock once you're in it properly (unless you're given a very forceful push that turns th ehammock 180 degrees). But non-tucked in blankets can fall off. sometimes I tie something around the whole hammock to keep everything in place. This makes it that much harder to get out of course.
The golden rule is to make sure you won't need the toilet in the night. This means waiting until you've "been" before you go to bed, if you need to wait until you're ready to "go". Despite one's best efforts, sometimes there will be some liquid unaccounted for and you'll need to get up anyway. After you've fought your way out of your floating tower of sheets and blankets, you have the infuriating task of setting all up again. I can't copnvey how frustrating this is.
It's really hard to wrap yourself up in many layers in a hammock. you can't lay a duvet on your hammock and then climb in- the duvet will fall of before you've got inside it. You have to somehow manouvre yourself in all at once, duvet, sheet and all, and have the layers you're going to put on top of you within easy reach on a convenient chair. Even harder to get it so the sheets are smooth and not doubled-up. I settle for partially smooth.
EDIT- before someone rushes to tell mw where I'm going wrong, I KNOW. Duvets are no good for a hammock. You need huge blankets that you can wrap totally round yourself. So you can put the sheet and however many blankets you need together and simply wrap yourself in them fuss free, then hop in the hammock. Pyjamas would help. too. I KNOW. I'm workin' on it -END OF EDIT.
It's impossible to do all this when you come home drunk or exhausted from a night out, so I need to keep my mattress on standby. I keep it propped on its side in the staricase and drag it in when I need it. i hate it to be there when I'm not lying on it, it takes up too much space and makes my room hard to cross and feel smaller. When it's out of the way, and I have taken down my hammock, voila! Instant office/studio. Except for the huge pine of blankets and sheets, which usually hides anything I'm looking for.
EDIT here are some pictures I took before I went to hammock last night:
It is big, beautiful, comfortable and strong. It is red and orange coloured, in a sort of flame effect, and I slept in it for a week before reverting to teh mattress for two weeks, then another week in the hammock. Each has its advantages. Sleeping in a hammock is wonderful, I'm floating, I'm cocooned in the air, swaying slightly, and I feel special. Sometimes I feel an ecstasy of joie de vivre in it. Sometimes I just can't be bothered and just want to flumpf on the more terrestrial, simple mattress. Some say a hammock is bad for your back, but the Mayans seem to manage. Still, I hedge my bets by alternating.
I say "just can't be bothered" because sleeping in a hammock in an Yorkshire winter is quite an undertaking. Not only do you need blankets above you as you do in a bed, you also need blankets below you. i am quite sensitive to the cold at night and I like to be covered up from head to toe. As I am quite tall this is difficult at teh best of time and often involves sleeping hunched over. In a hammock I need to be covered top and bottom, side to side, head to toe, with at least one sheet and two layers of blanket, duvet and sleeping bag. I basically sleep with all the bedding I possess, even that which was initially bought for guests. When guests have been over recently I've had to fob them off with unwashed linen, shock horror. even all this isn't quite enough on a real cold night, I have to throw on ponchos and curtains and miscellaneous vestments.
then you have to watch they don't fall off. Some people havve said they wouldn't sleep in a hammock for fear of falling out, but in fact it's impossible to fall out of a hammock once you're in it properly (unless you're given a very forceful push that turns th ehammock 180 degrees). But non-tucked in blankets can fall off. sometimes I tie something around the whole hammock to keep everything in place. This makes it that much harder to get out of course.
The golden rule is to make sure you won't need the toilet in the night. This means waiting until you've "been" before you go to bed, if you need to wait until you're ready to "go". Despite one's best efforts, sometimes there will be some liquid unaccounted for and you'll need to get up anyway. After you've fought your way out of your floating tower of sheets and blankets, you have the infuriating task of setting all up again. I can't copnvey how frustrating this is.
It's really hard to wrap yourself up in many layers in a hammock. you can't lay a duvet on your hammock and then climb in- the duvet will fall of before you've got inside it. You have to somehow manouvre yourself in all at once, duvet, sheet and all, and have the layers you're going to put on top of you within easy reach on a convenient chair. Even harder to get it so the sheets are smooth and not doubled-up. I settle for partially smooth.
EDIT- before someone rushes to tell mw where I'm going wrong, I KNOW. Duvets are no good for a hammock. You need huge blankets that you can wrap totally round yourself. So you can put the sheet and however many blankets you need together and simply wrap yourself in them fuss free, then hop in the hammock. Pyjamas would help. too. I KNOW. I'm workin' on it -END OF EDIT.
It's impossible to do all this when you come home drunk or exhausted from a night out, so I need to keep my mattress on standby. I keep it propped on its side in the staricase and drag it in when I need it. i hate it to be there when I'm not lying on it, it takes up too much space and makes my room hard to cross and feel smaller. When it's out of the way, and I have taken down my hammock, voila! Instant office/studio. Except for the huge pine of blankets and sheets, which usually hides anything I'm looking for.
EDIT here are some pictures I took before I went to hammock last night: