One Hour

One hour's worth of sleep out of a potential whole night is not a good thing. You get all warm and bathed-up, ready to snuggle under two duvets (with dogwarmer on feet - he'd better enjoy it while it lasts, new house will have new rules!), looking forward to a solid rest. And then it happens. You start to think. You get caught up in trains of thought that steam by 200 carriages long. Clickity-clack.. clickety-clack. Next thing you know an hour's passed and you're still trying to find that sweet spot on the mattress where your limbs melt and your eyes close.

But you get hot instead, toss and turn, chuck off half the second duvet - get up and chuck the entire thing off (to the dog's disgust, who wanders away and plonks down under the desk). Back to bed - and now you're too cold. Hot/cold - neither nor.

More thinking. While you're awake you may as well sort out the head. What-if's running through the neurons, fantasies taking flight. And then you start on the brave/stupid stuff - why not sell up everything in the house instead of moving it?! Rehome the dogs, give away the fish, start from scratch. (Dog snores on, unaware of his impending fate).

3:00 - or so says the face of your cellphone, glowing an alien shade of blue in the dark. You'd SMS someone but don't want to take the chance that perhaps they're getting a better night and end up waking them! You think about sending an email instead - but by the time you're up, the computer's booted etc you're gonna be freezing.

4:00. Still tossing. Hear the neighbours get up and pee. Hear their bath run in an hour later. Finally fall into a bit of a fitful sleep with strange dreams in which he starts a blog (unlikely) with the most exotic and interesting contents! Run into people from high school and one ex-boyfriend in the same dream. Trip over a low wall. Realize you're only half-asleep and this attempt at rest ain't working.

6:37 - cellphone beeps a smile-making SMS. Oh hell, forgot to set the alarm this morning and we're running late!

And running on about an hour's sleep. Not a good start to a Monday. Not after a weekend that left you feeling a bit off-kilter, sleeping in to get over the start of the flu (or something).

But here's the thing about a lack of sleep. Usually when you stand up too fast you nearly black out. Standing up too fast this morning instead has me seeing pixie-dust! Tiny little brilliant flashes of the most incredible light, whirling across my vision in drifts and swirls. I like it! Attempting to stand up too fast more than is necessary today.

Just imagine what it would be like if I took drugs / got really drunk AND got minimal sleep... Sjoe!