On our return journey from Normandy we overnighted in Folkestone, at a Holiday Inn. We couldn't help but notice that the bedding was a bit of a mess and Chris commented that nobody makes beds with "hospital corners" anymore!
In One Pair of Feet Monica Dickens writes about the petty tyrants who rule the wards and the slew of domestic duties which fall to the lot of the trainee nurse. In particular, the correct way of making hospital corners on a bed are more important than getting hold of a doctor when the ward needs one.
In the early chapters of the novel Nurse Dickens has her first encounter with hospital bed making "...then we took off our stiff cuffs, rolled up our sleeves and began to make beds. That is to say, Nurse Richardson took one side of the bed and did miraculous things like mitreing corners and whipping draw sheets in and out under obediently raised bottoms, while I, on the other side, fumbled and muddled, tore my nails and was convinced that I should never make a nurse."
In her memoir - No Time For Romance, Lucilla Andrews details the strict disciplines of wartime nursing, which prominently featured perfecting bed-making techniques which created a tight, wrinkle-free finish.
I wonder how many of these domestic duties fall to the lot of today's nurse, hopefully not too many, and the way in which the all female hospital nursing hierarchy exerted their control and dominance over those beneath them. Hospital corners feel like a sort of metaphor for this control.
I find it so interesting that a simple, throw away comment can trigger so many reading memories and cause me to consider a re-reading of some of my favourite novels of this genre.