A long time ago one of my relatives made an investment in a timeshare scheme, and as a result is able to stay in holiday apartment complexes for a certain number of days each year, and often shares these with family members. On this occasion, she was staying at a nearby complex as the guest space in the house was exhausted. I had been sleeping on an air mattress in the young girl’s play room, but the main issue with this was the inadequate window coverings, which meant that I was woken early each morning by the bright light and often could not get back to sleep. Several nights I was also woken up in the early hours by a sliver of moonlight crossing my face due to the placement of the blinds. Both the fan and the air-conditioner were loud (seems to be unavoidable in the tropics!) but as there was a bit of a cross-breeze from windows on two sides of the room I did not always need to turn them on. If the breeze got a bit brisk the blinds started flapping against the window, which would wake you up with a start. Thinking laterally, this could be minimised by interposing some soft toys on the window sill to act as a buffer! One amusing thing was that the when weight was applied, the air mattress would tend to attach to the tiled floor like the vacuum effect of suction cups. These would gradually let go with a popping sort of noise. The first time this happened I sat up startled, wondering who or what had got into the room!
As my relative had only been able to get a three-bedroom apartment, I thought I would probably get a better night's sleep there. This turned out to be somewhat of a 'comedy of errors'. The blackout curtains were largely ineffective against the stairwell lights immediately outside the windows and the bright car park below. The air-conditioner sounded like a jet engine, and when I turned it off and opened the windows there was a machinery shed on the other side of the car park that also sounded like a jet engine! As a result I was having trouble falling asleep, and of course in this situation your mind becomes over-active and you start thinking about problems, such as the expensive court case I am engaged in to recoup a lot of money that I am owed and which is a very challenging stressor in my life. This really becomes a form of night terrors which takes a while to resolve. It was also a clinical and uncomforting environment compared to the play room with all the smiling cute fluffy toys. Eventually with the help of an eyeshade and earplugs I did get off to sleep, but these become uncomfortable after a while and I woke up early again with the bright light. It was not difficult to decide that I was better off on the air mattress despite the moon and the early morning light!
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