You’d think that after a summer spent testing the greatest insomnia cures known to science and TikTok, I’d be sleeping like a Calpol-stuffed baby. Well, for weeks, I wasn’t. I half-dozed by night and dragged myself through each day; slow, unsmiling and stripped entirely of mojo. Because just as I’d packed away the sleep aids, my cat, Iggy, died.
You’ve met Iggy. He was that hopelessly beautiful creature who served as muse, home office manager and testing director for every Filter article I’ve ever written, chiefly the mattress reviews. The Ikea Valevåg triumphed in his claw-sharpening test, but the Origin Hybrid Pro was his favourite for sleeping, especially when it was propped up in the hallway awaiting collection by the appropriately named hardship charity Scratch. He’d scramble up the cliff face of the mattress’s sleeping surface and curl up atop its edge, carpeting it with his silky white fur. I like to think a few strands are still there, waving in the breeze of a sleeper’s happy snore.
