The World's Hardest Mattress
Well, I do believe that I have found a mattress which is harder and less inviting than ours in the states. It resides in our flat here. But I went shopping at ASDA yesterday (which is the UK branch of Walmart) and purchased a duvet (sort of like a down comforter, only with fiberfill instead of feathers) and put it between the mattress and the sheets. Much better. Not only was I able to sleep during the night, but I was able to stand up straight on the first attempt when I got up this morning, AND able to put on my socks without falling over. This is progress.
ASDA is quite an experience. Superstore shopping. The food section encompasses a similar scope of foodstuffs and household products as it might back in the states. More canned goods (meats and other such exotic items), perhaps. Dairy sections of grocery markets here present a dizzying array of goods not available in the states. Take "cream" for instance. We wished for some half-and-half type cream that we could put into our coffee. On the shelves, one finds whipping cream, heavy cream, double cream, single cream, and then "light" versions of single cream. Clotted cream, and fraiche cream. I resorted to looking at the pictures on the cartons: is the product pictured as being poured into a beverage, or is it a thicker concoction to be drizzled over fruit, or is it more suitable as mortar for bricks and stonework? Does the serving suggestion include whipping, agitating or chiseling of the product? Does the word "coffee" or "tea" or beverage appear? We settled on Light Single Cream (with 50% fewer kilocalories). I'll let you know how that works out for us.
The everything-else sections of ASDA are much more abbreviated than at a typical WalMart. There were 4 or 5 aisles of miscellaneous essentials: books, sheets (but no mattress pads, hence the duvet purchase described above), small appliance, camping gear, light bulbs and a miniscule hardware section with gallon cartons of paint (6 of them) and some screws and pull-chains. Upstairs, the clothing section was tucked under the eaves of the warehouse and stocked essentials, but not much variety. I was looking for a plain long sleeve Tshirt and found none in the ladies section. It interests me to find that junior fashions here are as impractical as they are at the states. Who in their right mind would purchase a strapless little black mini-dress in the dead of winter with sub-zero temperatures? Evidently the British teens suffer from the same flights from sanity that our American teens do. (We saw scores of young girls scattering from the bus stop after school, long and leggy in their black mini skirts and school blazers, bracing themselves against the sleet and driving snow.) No clothing was purchased at ASDA yesterday. But I did score a duvet, a woobie, electric hair clippers, some hooks from which to hang our keys, and a sponge. (The latter was specifically labeled for cleaning of bathroom surfaces. I debated between that and the package of simple synthetic sponges, but decided to live large while here.)
Today will involve no foraging for household basics. A book calls, and perhaps I will nap on my significantly-mitigated super-firm mattress.
ASDA is quite an experience. Superstore shopping. The food section encompasses a similar scope of foodstuffs and household products as it might back in the states. More canned goods (meats and other such exotic items), perhaps. Dairy sections of grocery markets here present a dizzying array of goods not available in the states. Take "cream" for instance. We wished for some half-and-half type cream that we could put into our coffee. On the shelves, one finds whipping cream, heavy cream, double cream, single cream, and then "light" versions of single cream. Clotted cream, and fraiche cream. I resorted to looking at the pictures on the cartons: is the product pictured as being poured into a beverage, or is it a thicker concoction to be drizzled over fruit, or is it more suitable as mortar for bricks and stonework? Does the serving suggestion include whipping, agitating or chiseling of the product? Does the word "coffee" or "tea" or beverage appear? We settled on Light Single Cream (with 50% fewer kilocalories). I'll let you know how that works out for us.
The everything-else sections of ASDA are much more abbreviated than at a typical WalMart. There were 4 or 5 aisles of miscellaneous essentials: books, sheets (but no mattress pads, hence the duvet purchase described above), small appliance, camping gear, light bulbs and a miniscule hardware section with gallon cartons of paint (6 of them) and some screws and pull-chains. Upstairs, the clothing section was tucked under the eaves of the warehouse and stocked essentials, but not much variety. I was looking for a plain long sleeve Tshirt and found none in the ladies section. It interests me to find that junior fashions here are as impractical as they are at the states. Who in their right mind would purchase a strapless little black mini-dress in the dead of winter with sub-zero temperatures? Evidently the British teens suffer from the same flights from sanity that our American teens do. (We saw scores of young girls scattering from the bus stop after school, long and leggy in their black mini skirts and school blazers, bracing themselves against the sleet and driving snow.) No clothing was purchased at ASDA yesterday. But I did score a duvet, a woobie, electric hair clippers, some hooks from which to hang our keys, and a sponge. (The latter was specifically labeled for cleaning of bathroom surfaces. I debated between that and the package of simple synthetic sponges, but decided to live large while here.)
Today will involve no foraging for household basics. A book calls, and perhaps I will nap on my significantly-mitigated super-firm mattress.
Labels: Mattresses
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