The Art of Tucking Myself In

As you may have seen in my apartment photos, I sleep under a mosquito net. I’m pretty sure this is more form than function as Kampala isn’t a particularly malarial zone. But I enjoy the net—partly for the ambiance, but also because I feel all snuggly and tucked in once I’m safely inside for the night.

However, getting tucked in for the night is not an easy process. It requires getting into the bed and then going around and tucking the net into the bedframe piece by piece. And inevitably I forget some integral part of my going-to-bed routine—brushing my teeth, locking my door, setting my alarm clock, pulling the curtains, turning the light off on one particularly memorable occasion—all of which require me to untuck, get out from under the net, do whatever task is required, and then retuck. This adds a solid five minutes to the process, and I’d say I do it about three times per night on average.

However, despite the constant annoyance of getting in and out of bed three times a night, I continue to go through the routine. That was up until last night when I noticed that my net that keeps me safe and secure from all the little Ugandan critters has two fairly massive holes, approximately the size of a quarter and a nickel respectively, rendering the net and my entire bedtime process completely useless. So basically if you add up the two weeks I’ve lived in this apartment and multiply that by an average of fifteen minutes a night—that’s um… well… HOURS of time that I’ll never get back for no mosquito protection whatsoever. Oh well, off to buy a new net…