I encountered duvets for the first time in Germany, where I was posted during the late 1970s.

In Canada, if one lived in an ordinary house with normally drafty windows, in winter one slept under woollen blankets (one or two) arranged over a top sheet. The blankets might come from the Hudson's Bay Company if one were lucky. If one belonged to the right kind of family, the bed might be topped with a handmade quilt (there was no other kind) or even an eiderdown, which was a quilted bed-cover filled with -- you guessed it -- the down of eider ducks, instead of the second blanket. In my parents' house, which was really quite drafty, winter sleeping was done under a top sheet, a blanket, and a magnificently musty old carriage robe, emerging in the morning as if from some kind of cocoon.

In summer, if one lived in an ordinary house with no air-conditioning (that is, any house I ever had cognizance of), one slept under a sheet, if absolutely necessary, directly down-range from a fan set by an open window. On the rare occasion when more than a cotton sheet was wanted, a chenille or candlewick bedspread would be deployed, or perhaps a quilt.

I well remember the candlewick bedspread as status symbol, usually found in houses without cats, or with bedroom doors kept firmly shut to keep the cats off the beds. I owned a candlewick bedspread once, and it was wrecked in double-quick time by a pair of little black kittens who found it delightful for claw-stropping purposes.

Ever since returning from Germany, I have slept under a duvet in winter. We own two: a huge down-filled thing that is really too warm for this house and thus is hardly ever used, and a lighter one filled with silk that works well in all weathers except the hottest weeks of summer, when we resort to a light quilt or just a sheet. In the depths of winter, when the northwest wind is howling around the house and everything feels chilly, the Hudson's Bay blanket makes a rare appearance on top of the silk duvet; it's just too much of a hassle to haul out the down-filled one and wrestle it into the cover.

Inserting a duvet into its cover is a full-body workout for one person, or an exercise in cooperation for two. I don't recommend it for couples who are suffering with a disagreement.