So I went up to Hamburg for a couple of nights. I did a lot of thinking up there, mostly at night, as there wasn’t really much else to do. I didn’t have the option of sleeping, because one other person occupied the three-bed hostel room both nights I was there. This person, whose face I did not gaze upon until the second evening of my stay, snored loudly enough to raise the dead. I wasn’t even aware that a human could make such a noise. It seemed more like the enhanced sound effect of some digital movie-creature, the dragon that shakes the ground with its noisy slumber as a hero creeps by. This man came in after I was asleep, though I did wake when he entered the room. He was so quiet and respectful in his entrance, simply taking off his pants and jacket and hanging them up before slipping into bed. I think I fell asleep again, but I was soon awakened by a noise like a small nasal explosion, followed by something that sounded like a horse being strangled. I tried a few vain attempts to stir him enough that he might roll off of his back. I banged some nearby object against the radiator. I went out in the hall to the bathroom, making sure to slam the door and step heavily. It never worked. I thought that there was no way he could be healthy. Perhaps he had to sleep attached to some sort of mechanical breathing apparatus, which was powered by a diesel engine concealed in his suitcase. I have no idea what could cause such a sound to come out of a human being, but I did know that I was in a hellish situation. I lay on my back, startled by the occasional change in the snoring. Occasionally the regular chainsaw rhythm was interrupted by a noise like his lungs were expelling a small animal with explosive force. I silenty concocted a fantasy that he would die in his sleep, but the body would be removed quietly before I awoke. The only way I managed to get to sleep, around 3, was by wrapping my head in a pillow from the unoccupied bed and then covering myself entirely with the duvet. He was up before me, clearly having had the best night's sleep of his life.