Wilting under quilting

May we add our voices to the antiduvet crowd?

Whenever my wife, Peggy, and I enter a new hotel room, the very first thing we do is rush to the bed and peek under the coverlet, hoping against hope that there is no duvet hiding beneath. Increasingly often, there is. We, too, combat the beast by gutting it of the duvet and sleeping under the cover only.

I still remember our introduction to duvets, at the home of friends in Denmark in June 1968. We were given a twin-bedded room, each bed covered by a puffy quilt, or so we thought. There was no top sheet, just a bottom one and the duvet.

It was hot. The sun never set. At midnight we were emptying out the contents of the duvet and bedding down for the night under the cover. Early in the morning we’d stand on the bed, trying to put the thing together again as one puts a pillow into its case, so our hosts wouldn’t be offended.

Give us sheets and blankets anytime!

LEE ZEIGLER
San Francisco, CA