And so to bed

One of the (few) compensations of leaving the boat to go back home (clean, non-coal fingernails and a humungous fridge being the others) is that we get to sleep in our big bed. We as in me, A and Susie,that is. Except this time I got home and just thought that the whole bed department was looking a bit on the sad and tired side – knackered pillows, lumpy duvet, boring bed linen and no mattress topper! Quick, back to the boat! No, better than that, cue a trip to Dunelm Mill on Saturday for some serious retail therapy. After one of those ‘ouch, how much’ moments at the till, I beetled off home to conduct my bed makeover. Oh my, was it worth the money. The bed is now simply divine and delicious – and bloody difficult to get out of in the morning. (Slightly tangential this but I had to share - one of the funniest things I have ever seen was the aftermath of A's attempts at changing a duvet cover. With a red angry face he told me that I'd need to go and sort it because he'd failed - I went upstairs and there, basically, discovered that he'd achieved the 'swag bag' effect: duvet balled up into one corner and the rest of the cover completely empty, ideal for throwing over the shoulder and swinging from side to side. Unbelievable - I couldn't do that even if I wanted to.)

I can’t believe the bed transformation, to be honest. And as if to emphasise just how comfy it is now, my dutiful, early morning tea-making amanuensis, Ranger, actually had the temerity to bugger off half way through proceedings today and leg it back alone to the bedroom. He never does that, preferring to trip me up on the stairs as I carry a cup of tea to the Kraken. I found him ensconced, no, nesting would be a better word, in my new duvet-pillow-topper finery and looking very pleased with himself that he’d left absolutely no room for me to get back in. Hence me sipping my tea with one bum cheek perched perilously over the edge while he snuggled down even further, but not before he’d decided to brush daddy’s hair with his paw. That went down well….

Having had a couple of absolutely fab nights’ sleep, I suddenly felt a bit guilty that I’d spent quite a lot on our bed but nothing on the dogs’ beds (although they were treated to some gorgeous thermal fleece blankets for night time snoozing). The dog beds are situated in the living room (for daytime snoozing) and to be quite frank, they are gross. They are old, dirty and full of smelly blankets and cushions and biscuit crumbs – but they love them. They happily move from basket to basket, luxuriating in the familiar doggy stink, pawing at the contents and rearranging them to get their perfect sleeping position. Buy them something new and they just sniff it with suspicion and disdain but the time has come – I’ve had enough and the plague-ridden beds have to go. Which means, of course, having to find replacements. Now this is easier said than done because a) I want baskets rather than cushions and b) baskets in the size I want (massive to accommodate a leggy supine grey) are not that common. Well, after much searching on the net, I came across Snuggiepets (sold through Amazon as well). They do a wide range of beds including an XXL faux suede/sheepskin version coming in at a whopping 48” x 36”. I’m not actually sure they need something that big (it’s the size of a small room, after all) but I got carried away and added five to my basket and checked out before I could change my mind. If there’s any nose turning upping when they arrive, I’ll revoke all bed privileges and give them some newspaper to sleep on….and not a broadsheet either. Make them really suffer.