Saturday 18 May 2013

IN BED WITH A KINDLE




My husband Ray and I have always had a lot of fun. He also writes great blog posts. Although...hmm...not sure about this one!

Oh, and don't miss the "special" photo of him at the end!










Mary loves to read in bed. That’s okay in daylight. Unfortunately house and other commitments make this rather difficult. So it is a night time feature. That requires a light. But we share the bed. That in turn means the light of her reading lamp to varying degrees casts its glow in my ‘realm’. Add to that the thunderous noise of turning pages and you understand my sleep deprivation.

Our children understood the pressure I was under due to lack of sleep. So their answer – buy mum a ‘Kindle’. They wanted me to enjoy a greater depth of slumber land and produce sweeter, richer tones to my snoring. Now Mary reads in bed with the kindle’s soft light and no crashing sound of turning pages. Bliss? I hoped so but it wasn’t so. Now every–time she touches the screen to turn the page a shadow flits across the ceiling and off the walls. Have you ever tried to sleep when light and shadow perform their weird dancing ritual? It might be silent. It is spooky. I once thought the room was haunted. This was due to a combination of her turning pages, she reads quickly, a storm outside and when she chuckled about something.

Still you can adapt to anything after a while and with cunning strategies. If you can’t beat them, and you can’t join them, confuse them is my suggestion. I now listen to my bedside radio either to the news or soft dreamy music. Then with a mind at ease and eyes unafraid I drift off to sleep. Guess who has to turn off the radio.

You may think this wildly exaggerated. It is! However it does reveal the peril of modern inventions seized upon by addicted writers and readers. Then bosses, managers and governments wonder why we have so many workers arriving half asleep to work and coffee sales soaring.

Still, if I had to be honest, I wish I could sustain reading in bed for more than a paragraph. I’d love to challenge Mary to a Kindle endurance readathon? O well, a man can dream can he not?

Ray (sleep deprived) Hawkins April 2013.

There it is! And we did have fun as he posed for the photo, but somehow I don't think he was quite prepared when the camera flashed as he acted out!

But here is a big, big, thank you my darling for all those nights you did let me read with that bedside lamp on.

And I have to add that of course the book on the photo is my own first Amazon e-book, Faith in the Great Southland.

And just been told Hope in the Great Southland and Love in the Great Southland should be released also by Truly Yours Digital Editions in June.
I can hardly wait.


10 comments:

  1. So cute! I recently "graduated" to an iPad, and promptly realized reading in bed could become a bit of a problem, as the screen wants to flip upside down and sideways every time I squirm - which I do...a lot. In response to my moans of woe, one of my tech-savvy kids finally rolled her eyes and asked why I didn't lock the screen. :P

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  2. Fun post! Reminded me so much of my night-time reading adventures with my late husband. :) The Kindle Fire made a huge difference. But Jim didn't seem to mind the flickering shadows of turning pages. Actually, he would fall asleep with the TV on, no sound, mind you. And I was the one who had to turn it off. Thank goodness for remote controls. :)

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  3. Thanks, Katie. We must share the same sense of "fun". Just checked out your website and wish you every success with your writing.

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  4. Haven't been game to try an IPad,Delia. If you had a problem like that hate to think hpow many I'd have.

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  5. Had to smile, Peggy. Ray was rather exaggerating about the flickering light. Why, I can hear him snoring!

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  6. Mary, you might try some restful music to drown out Ray's snoring. Might I suggest a lovely drum solo, or one of the finales from Handel's Messiah?

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  7. Tell Ray to try audio books. I read in bed with my eyes closed and don't bother my husband a bit. Of course, sometimes I wake up and have no idea what is going on in my book . . .

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  8. Sarah, Ray's idea of "restful" music and my own vary so much we'd probably come to blows and niether of us would sleep! LOL.

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  9. Had to smile, LeAnne. Trouble is Ray doesn't want to read, just sleep.

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