Tuesday, May 6, 2014

SLEEP TIGHT

On Saturday, May 2, my daughter took me to Montgomery Inn Museum for a tour , tea and a concert. The drive from my home was a fair distance as I live north east of Toronto and the Inn is in the south west part of the city, the now infamous area of Etobicoke, the residential area of Mayor Rob Ford, a man whose character I've always had doubts about. He has made light of some serious matters by running a large metropolis without a sound mind since substance abuse does interfere with one's judgement. 
The area is very lovely and so is the old Inn that was established back in the 1830"s along Dundas Street also known today as Highway 5.The picture is taken from the rear east side of the in.
The tour was educational and the guide added some humour that always adds to the fun of learning and recalling things. It's hard to imagine how the people back then enjoyed the use of Inn facilities in comparison to our modern times and our hotel room expectations.
There's the fact the ladies had to have a travel companion to vouch for them and ladies had to use a family bedroom.
The little cot was for children and was stored under the big one when not needed.  When I first saw the room pictured below I thought it was the servant quarters but I was very wrong.
This is the room assigned for the men who needed a bed and it was expected that three men would use the same bed at the same time. The term sleep tight comes from the fact that three adult men side by side was a very tight situation. Privacy was of no matter. It was more a case of survival. Warmth was important as the winters were very frosty cold with no heating provided in the bedroom. But there's also the fact that the mattress sat on knotted rope which had to be kept tight with a tool so that the mattress wouldn't sag in the centre. It was tightened every other day.
This photo shows a bit of the rope (and the porta potty, ha ha ha).
I imagine the Inn would have had less customers in need for a bed in the summer months because it did get warm in the area. Choosing sleeping under the stars was not uncommon then.

Next time you say, 'sleep tight' to someone, imagine the image of three to a bed that were likely not always related and nine to the room. I try to tune out the snoring as I think of it. 

Buddy, hubby and I are off to sleep tight at our daughter's place in Bromley, UK for a bit. And we also have planned a 'chunnel' train trip to Paris. We three will sleep tight at Hotel Henri IV for a couple of nights.
It was difficult finding a room for three. How times have changed.

Thanks in advance for stopping by. We hope you are well and we often think of all our blogging friends. We'll have new stuff to share soon.

P.S.  George and Betsy, one of our roses has fully survived our crazy winter and the other has one tiny branch that is green. We are hoping both roses will bloom again maybe in June?

9 comments:

Linda G. said...

What an entertaining and informative tour. I will not say sleep tight again without seeing vision in head of three men sleeping in a bed side by side.

Heidrun Khokhar, KleinsteMotte said...

Thanks Linda.

Olga said...

Interesting indeed. Enjoy your trip.

LC said...

Thanks for taking us along to experience the Inn and the look at how life was "back then."

Arkansas Patti said...

Boy am I glad times have changed. I have heard of "three dog nights" to keep warm but not three men nights.
Let's hope Rob Ford gets the help he needs.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Great news about your roses... They are hardy for the most part---and can make it through a wicked winter. The biggest thing we notice is that many of ours are LATE this year...

What a great time you all must have had at the museum... What a great place...

Hope you have a great trip... Blessings to you and the family.

Hugs,
Betsy

Dee said...

Dear Heidrun, I so enjoy learning the origin of verbal expressions. I equally enjoy learning about the history of place of time. So I found this posting especially enjoyable.

I hope your trip to the UK and to Paris is resting your minds from recent concerns. Peace.

Beth Niquette said...

Oh, my goodness!!! I had NO idea sleep tight originally meant three in one teeny little bed! lol

Wow! I will always think of this when I say, "sleep tight," to someone. Goodness gracious!

Thank you so much for this post. I enjoyed the photos and every single word. Thank you!

A Colorful World said...

Dear Heidrun--this was such a delightful post! I used to work in two historic houses and loved to tell people about the "sleep tight" saying as well as many other things that come from our past and we still say today. Those were interesting years. I did a lot of research on my own because I love history so much.