By golly it’s dark in the sticks….

So I went away (but as you can see I came back so that’s OK). I had a pretty good weekend (this is an understatement as things went very well and so I actually had a very good weekend) but as usual at these things I ended up absolutely pooped! ^*1

After a late meeting on the Friday night I finally got back to my room and decided to have a bit of a relax and read before going off to sleep. Now I should have realised that there was going to be a problem straight off, but I am optimistic little soul and just though it would be OK. You see, the light switch for the bedside light was mounted on the wall, kinda half behind the headboard. So, I propped a couple of pillows up against the headboard, turned on the light and picked up my book. I relaxed back against the pillows and the light went out! I leaned forward and it came back on! I shifted the pillows just a bit and discovered that the light when on off on off on off every time I breathed in and out which was really just plain annoying and not conducive to a nice relaxing read!

So I got up and got a pair of socks out of my suitcase and wedged them between the headboard and the wall, made myself a cup of hot chocolate (since I was up and halfway to the kettle anyway) and settled back down. The socks did it nicely and the light stayed on. So, there I was, just getting to a juicy bit in the book and I leaned forward to pick up my cup. Unbeknownst to me, the socks escaped and fell down the back of the headboard and when I leaned back against the pillows, yep, you’ve guessed it - the lights went out!

Well, this was just getting a tad annoying by this stage, but now I was missing my socks so I got back out of bed and got down on the floor and started fishing under the bed with my walking stick. I knew it was a bad idea to lean on the bed to do this, ‘cos just as I managed to hook them from the furthest corners under the bed (thankfully there was no monster^*2 under there) I pushed a bit too hard on the bed and the light went out again. This time, when I shifted my weight the light stayed off and so there I was in pitch blackness (this place is out in the boondocks so no street lights) in a strange room and with no socks to boot.

Well, finally I shuffled around and found the right switch and eventually got my socks back. It was sometime around this point that I realised that I had neglected to lock my door when I came in so anyone could have walked in and found me with my a*se stuck in the air and my head under the bed and the only explanation I would have for it was that the lights kept going out unexpectedly!

^*1In fact so much so that after I got home I started drifting off to sleep whilst watching CSI – and it was a good one! True it wasn’t the series with Gary Sinise (I have a soft spot) but all the same, there I was eyes slipping shut like some old lady in the corner…
^*2Which is good because I didn't have one of these handy.