sofasurfers

I like to grumble about my insomnia. You see, if I do it enough to enough people, maybe someone one day might just volunteer the ultimate cure. Chez moi, I insist on a controlled environment at sleepy time - blackout blinds + eyeblinds + an interminable supply of sleeping pills at hand. Plus I do what I can to avoid sleeping around. I mean sleeping over at friends, of course..

So perhaps it seems a little ill-advised to set off on what is essentially an extreme camping trip for 80 days, never in the same place, never able to achieve that controlled environment, never able to promise my sleep spirit its much-needed calm and silence. What’s more, our only respite from sleeping on floors/in one-room flats/not sleeping at all because we’re busy being polite and drinking vodka all night with our hosts… will be the judder of long-haul trains. It’s just as well that I like to power the world of sleeponomics.

And so I have been shopping/borrowing/begging.

8 x 20 Boots’ own Sleepeaze sleeping pills. Bought in pairs from four different pharmacies to avoid rousing suspicion.

A “snowman” all-in-one fleecey sleepsuit (it’s not meant to be a sleep suit - really, it’s for ballerinas to warm up in)

male ballet dancer not included, huh huh

Two inflatable pillows

One pillow case

Three earplugs. Please don’t question the logic of an odd number for an even-numbered cause. There is none. Unless preparing for panic can be called logical. Of course it can

One shortwave transistor for listening to The World Service - miraculously soporific

Plus my trusty eyeblinds. Actually, perhaps I should double up, to compensate for the inevitable lack of black-out curtains

Or perhaps I should just read this list. Marvellously yawn-inducing.

(FB)