reading under the covers

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did you ever do this when you were a kid? like with a flashlight? I saw mention of it in gloria anzaldua's 'borderlands / la frontera' today and was reminded of how much I did the same before my parents didn't care if I stayed up with the light on and read.

― Josh (Josh), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 01:46 (twenty-three years ago)

the secret I think was that there was no way my mom cared enough to outwait me, if I really seriously wanted to read. ha.

― Josh (Josh), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 01:50 (twenty-three years ago)

i didnt, i was allowed to read until i fell asleep.

― anthony easton (anthony), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 01:57 (twenty-three years ago)

I did, and my parents confiscated my flashlight once, the dorks. I had a great quilt as a little kid which had one pattern on the outside & a different one underneath, and I loved how it looked all lit up from inside when I pulled it over my head & the book & flashlight.

― lyra (lyra), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 02:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually I'm doing this right now with my laptop. hee hee. shhh.

― Kim, Wednesday, 4 September 2002 02:08 (twenty-three years ago)

I do this as an adult, mostly when I run out of light bulbs or there's a blackout.

― felicity (felicity), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 02:09 (twenty-three years ago)

mine took my flashlight too! I got another one haha

― Josh (Josh), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 02:13 (twenty-three years ago)

i read in the dark cos i wanted to wear glasses, which i did by second or third grade, but not under the covers. now i don't like bright light and wear contact lenses (for astigmatism).

― youn, Wednesday, 4 September 2002 02:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Klassik! I ended up getting an older friend to buy me a secret flashlight (as otherwise I'd have to sneak one out of the hot water cupboard . . .)
I'd also pull my bedside lamp under the covers, & after my parents started touching it to see if it was hot while I faked sleep, I got a spare lightbulb to switch. Haha!

(sadly my parents prediction that I'd ruin my eyes were right)

― Ess Kay (esskay), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 04:54 (twenty-three years ago)

mine has not yet gone south!

― Josh (Josh), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 04:59 (twenty-three years ago)

i did. i even hid in a cupboard. one morning my parents went up to my room to discover i wasn't there. they panicked... until i suddenly appeared.

― nathalie (nathalie), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 05:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, but more often sprawled across mine and my sisters' bed to read in the landing light which was left on with the door open because my sister didn't like the dark. I just had to be quick when I heard a door open downstairs.

― Ellie (Ellie), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 07:39 (twenty-three years ago)

I was allowed to read for as long as I liked, but I also secretly used to watch Spitting Image on a tiny portable telly under the covers. I supposed I must have watched other things, but I only remember Spitting Image.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 07:53 (twenty-three years ago)

I never read with a flashlight, but I would read by the lamp until I heard a parent coming down the hall, then I would quickly switch it off, shut my eyes and fake sleep. Mum never realised, but Dad would touch the lamp bulb and, on discovering the heat, would discover that I'd been devouring Jean Ure books rather than sleeping. Cue big telling off, all done in whispers so as not to wake my sister.

― Madeleine, Wednesday, 4 September 2002 07:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Wow, Maddie's dad = the Sherlock Holmes of parenting.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 08:12 (twenty-three years ago)

i also read later than i was allowed ("you need your sleep") using the light from the landing that came under the door. my parents told me it would ruin my eyes. when i was taken to the optician for my first pair of glasses at age 12 i asked the optician if i needed glasses because of this and he said no, that my astigmatism was hereditary and that trying to read in dim light wouldn't damage your eyes. i'm sure i make a very smug face at my mum.

― angela (angela), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 08:30 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to do this a bit but found it uncomfortable. More often I would watch the TV with the brightness and contrast right down and a little earplug I got in a jumble sale that had a really long cord. Sometimes I would be extra careful and just listen to the sound with no picture. I remember trying to watch Cheers this way. I had an old pine door with lots of cracks in it through which light would stream into the dark landing outside, so I had to take severe precautionary measures. I got to draping my dressing gown along the bottom and taping the belt along the frame. What a rigmarole.

Why do you call them flashlights when they don't flash?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 09:10 (twenty-three years ago)

My parents as long as I can remember have let me read in bed till whenever. These days mum sticks her head in the door just as she's about to go to bed and says "What time do you have to get up in the morning?" I stay up till the wee hours never the less, though.

― Andrew (enneff), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 09:48 (twenty-three years ago)

haha miniature televisions under the covers were the stuff of science fiction in my youth. We didn't have a torch. And I shared a room with my little brother, who would have told my parents on me (about this or anything) at the first opportunity. (I nearly said "in a New York minute", which sounds great, but someone might ask me what it means.)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 4 September 2002 16:20 (twenty-three years ago)

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