Spotlight on a bed

This is a follow up to Sean's post A bed in which all the world slept badly. It got me curious if I'd taken any photos of my bed when I was growing up, so I searched through my old negatives and found one . . . an unmade bed. In Geoff Dyer's book The Ongoing Moment (which I too am re visiting) he compares made and unmade beds. In the opening he says: "There are two kinds of bed: the made and the unmade. Made beds are nice and inviting but unmade ones are usually more interesting (even if they are not particularly inviting)." The spotlight is on my bed.

I was quite surprised in finding this negative as I don't remember taking it, never printed it, and this is the first time it exists as a positive.

My memories could not be more opposite to that of Sean's. I'd guess I was about 13 and this was my little den, or nest even. The bed is one half of a bunk bed (the top one) that in earlier years was connected to my sisters bed and I remember we'd argue who slept on the top. I was a big Genesis fan and painted the name on my bedside table, two stickers of Dark Side of the Moon and a Fonz Stay Cool. There's a Norwegian calendar on the wall and a tourist flag from Bergen where I was born. What's surprising is the picture of Jesus and I can't think why it's up there, I'm no way religious. I can only think it was from when my sister had the room before me (she'd left home by then). There's a radio cassette recorder, one of the first that could record straight from the radio, I used it a lot and it still exists in the guest room at my Mum's house. The chair to the right I have to this day in the living room. It's from when Mum and Dad had their first flat in Bergen in the 50's. When Mum was pregnant with me she suffered back pains and it was the only comfortable chair to sit in (it's a comfy chair). I can see my old Zenit E camera case and Leningrad light meter, long gone now. To the right, out of frame, I had an old black and white telly which I saved up and bought for £10. I'd stay up watching the late night films, Barney Miller and Rhoda. On Saturday mornings I'd make myself tea and marmalade on toast and watch Top Cat.

I liked my bed, I slept easy in it, it was a place I had my own little world . . .

Ken