I am spending the next four months in Iceland, during the time when the sun doesn’t set till quite late and I am having trouble sleeping. I needed some serious help.

Last month I moved to Iceland for a temporary work assignment. All-in-all, it has been fine and I have been excited about living in a new place and all that usually comes with new experiences. One thing that I didn’t anticipate was the trouble I would have sleeping because of the long, long periods of day light at this latitude. I will be here through the spring and summer, and right now, as of May, the sun doesn’t set till like midnight.

The room I am staying in is a rented guesthouse that the company uses to house foreign temporary workers. It is pretty nice with all the basic amenities except that it has these flimsy curtains that simply don’t block nearly enough light. I never fancied myself a light sleeper but apparently I have trouble getting to sleep when it is not dark.

Something needed to be done as my lack of sleep was starting to effect my work performance and general quality of life. Sure, I could tape up some aluminum foil or something but I was hoping for something a little more user friendly and attractive. I needed a solution. So, I contacted my wife, and begged her to get me some good but inexpensive room darkening window shades or I am going to have a psychotic episode from lack of sleep.

She got back to me and told me that all she needed was for me to measure the two windows that I wanted shades for. She referred me to an online video that tells you how to measure windows for inside-mounted window shades. I had to convert my metric measurements into English units but other than that I was all set. She also sent me a few links so that I could take a look at the options that were available. Funny, I never thought I would be looking into this kind of transaction when I came here. But this was a necessity and I was willing to pay for some good sack time.

What I ended up choosing were the classic vinyl roller shades that offered almost complete blackout; that was music to my ears. The two windows were about average size so that wasn’t a big problem but I soon realized that I would need a drill to bore holes in the concrete window casings. You see, almost all the homes are made from concrete as they timber is very expensive. Also, the weather can be quite severe and these concrete homes are very solid - kind of like bunkers.

My wife ordered my beloved blackout window shades and air-mailed them to me at considerable expense. In fact the cost to air mail them was almost equivalent to the price of the shades, but I didn’t care. When you are tired and desperate for sleep a couple hundred dollars is small change for big comfort. I got my shades in three days, borrowed an electric drill and got those beauties up in minutes. They fit perfectly and worked as well as I dreamed they would. And, speaking of dreaming, that evening, quite early in fact, I was sleeping deeply and dreaming contentedly.

In the end, the company that I am working for ended up paying for my window shades after they learned that I was having trouble sleeping in the room they provided. So, all’s well that ends well. I think when I go home I am going to get some of these blackout window shades for my bedroom. I have become somewhat of a connoisseur of very dark spaces for sleeping.