Choosing a vegan bed. Oh dear - on several levels. Wife decided our memory mattress was failing in that it was too hot and it failed to recall its original flatness and was now a 3D map of valleys and mountain ridges. I was loathe to change it because it took ages to buy and its memory was still better than ours.There we were in various bed shops in Chester asking for a mattress that conformed to wife's demands ie wasn't memory or gel and was medium to firm; plus my demands that no animal was harmed in its manufacture. ie no wool and no silk. Arrgh. But wool is natural and sheep have a happy time in their fields. 
I know everyone here will disagree with my vegan views here but nooo. It is a cruel existence. Farm animals do not live like in the Ladybird book of Farming. Sheep only live for half their natural lifespan of 12-15 years when their meat and wool is "needed" to make humans happy. Ask the ram if it enjoyed the electric shock given up its anus to force it to ejaculate sperm for Artificial Insemination. You'll have to wait for it to finish writhing on the ground.
Every shop assistant, when asked which mattresses were wool / silk free said, "Why are you allergic?" Only two appeared to respect my philosophical stand while they pointed out, sadly, that as with vegetarian shoes, belts and other products, the most expensive make use of animals while nasty plastics were often the only veggie alternatives. Several thought the word "Natural" meant wool, leather and silk until I pointed out that hemp, cotton and linen were also natural.
Finally we found the Ortho 1200 in John Lewis that was vegan and comfy. Then we needed a King size because the Ortho 1200 double is smaller than our current bed and we don't want to get in each other's way. Then I asked the crunch question:
Does it absorb snoring? Perhaps to store the snore for release when no one is at home?
There's a niche in the market.
Nelder News
New story published recently and it will only cost you 50p (80 cents) or less than the biscotti for your coffee.
One of my wife’s colleagues ran into a container. Clarify Nelder. Okay, he was sailing to the Isle of Man and the container had fallen off a ship. To a writer of spooky stories this is a rich start to a horror story. What’s in the container? Surely not people, yes but what kind of people… It’s called Voyage of the Silents, published by Pennyshorts
To grab a copy of one of my ARIA books here are the links
Kindle – Amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/ARIA-Left-Luggage-ebook/dp/B008RADGYC/
Paperback Amazon.comhttp://www.amazon.com/ARIA-Left-Luggage-Volume-1/dp/1905091958/
Kindle UK – http://www.amazon.co.uk/ARIA-Left-Luggage-ebook/dp/B008RADGYC/
Paperback UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/ARIA-Left-Luggage-Geoff-Nelder/dp/1905091958/
Publisher’s website with more details and formats.
http://www.ll-publications.com/leftluggage.html
Buy it quick before you run out of memory
Another science fiction book you might like of mine uses a bit of quantum mechanics but in a fun way. EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEE After timequakes cause chaos, a Mars mission is diverted to chase departing mysterious spheres. Will the spheres listen and return before Earth rips apart?
Check out the page with video clips and purchase links http://geoffnelder.com/project/exit-pursued-by-a-bee/
