That pillow you slept on last night looks simple enough.
Right? Actually it is complex and that standard 20"x26" size you probably slept on is just one a man (many!) different sizes and shapes that your pillow could have coming.
Let's just think about the range of pillow shapes there are out there, for one thing.
Take the standard pillow on your bed.
In this country they are oblong and usually soft.
But this is not the only shape people are sleeping on around the world tonight.
In the Pacific island of Samoa, for instance, older people will be sleeping on wooden pillows.
I suppose you can hardly call them pillows.
But they are.
Carved from a solid block of local wood and I once spent a night in a friend's home on that island sleeping on a standard, foam filled Western pillow, enveloped in a mosquito net.
While up a short track through the bush in the other open-walled part of the house my friend's father was sleeping soundly on a block of wood.
The wooden pillow is a well-established tradition in Japan.
And the ancient Egyptians might also choose to have a comfortable night on a wooden pillow ...
even though they grew cotton and were masters at weaving cloth and using woven fibres.
Getting back to that pillow you used last night ...
what was it filled with? Mine is stuffed with synthetic fibre.
But I've used cotton in the past.
And I know all about feather pillows from my younger days when I watched them become lumpy and uncomfortable with use and as my struggle mother was never quite sure how to clean the natural material.
But there are plenty of people who would never dream of filling a pillow with plastic material.
In modern day Egypt, for example, local people have a long tube for a pillow.
It is stuffed hard with cotton, is heavy, solid to the touch, and stretches in one piece from one side of the bed to the other.
Pillows come in a diverse range of shapes and fillings and with a little searching you will always be able to find one that is perfect for you.
Even in the jungle of Samoa or the desert cities of Egypt.
Right? Actually it is complex and that standard 20"x26" size you probably slept on is just one a man (many!) different sizes and shapes that your pillow could have coming.
Let's just think about the range of pillow shapes there are out there, for one thing.
Take the standard pillow on your bed.
In this country they are oblong and usually soft.
But this is not the only shape people are sleeping on around the world tonight.
In the Pacific island of Samoa, for instance, older people will be sleeping on wooden pillows.
I suppose you can hardly call them pillows.
But they are.
Carved from a solid block of local wood and I once spent a night in a friend's home on that island sleeping on a standard, foam filled Western pillow, enveloped in a mosquito net.
While up a short track through the bush in the other open-walled part of the house my friend's father was sleeping soundly on a block of wood.
The wooden pillow is a well-established tradition in Japan.
And the ancient Egyptians might also choose to have a comfortable night on a wooden pillow ...
even though they grew cotton and were masters at weaving cloth and using woven fibres.
Getting back to that pillow you used last night ...
what was it filled with? Mine is stuffed with synthetic fibre.
But I've used cotton in the past.
And I know all about feather pillows from my younger days when I watched them become lumpy and uncomfortable with use and as my struggle mother was never quite sure how to clean the natural material.
But there are plenty of people who would never dream of filling a pillow with plastic material.
In modern day Egypt, for example, local people have a long tube for a pillow.
It is stuffed hard with cotton, is heavy, solid to the touch, and stretches in one piece from one side of the bed to the other.
Pillows come in a diverse range of shapes and fillings and with a little searching you will always be able to find one that is perfect for you.
Even in the jungle of Samoa or the desert cities of Egypt.