Swings and oooh not them other things!

Still on the grumpygoround!
As well as the possible drowsiness (no sign of that) these pills 'may have side effects such as difficulty in sleeping'.
Right so the plan is to get up early (my sort of early, not everyone else's) and then be really tired and ready for bed by everyone else's normal sort of bedtime. Only from about midday onwards, I seem to get more and more lively and stable and wideawake. Habit? Possibly.
Still, last night, I got myself by the scruff and dragged myself, protesting all the way, that I could just do this that or the other before settling down. Uh uh, I said to myself (actually I swore at myself but you don't need the colourful details) you get into bed and relax and you'll sleep like a baby till tomorrow morning early and then take two pills and be allllll ready for a nice sunny day doing not very much.
Only as it happened, Barney was not sleeping like any baby. He was doing his full night time repertoire from loud, irregular snoring with snorts and huffs and long silent pauses, to muttering and sighing, to singing three notes of an arpeggio (in tune and in time but with poor tone production), to exclamations and fragments of sentences which sounded very interesting but didn't contain quite enough consonant to actually make sense. A fair bit of tossing and turning and occasional accusatory sounding mmphs and uurghs.
It was a warm night. I gave up on which bits of quilt I was going to keep for myself.
I wondered if I would have slept through this without the side effect! Wondered if they just forgot to mention that the side effect comes from the other side of the bed!
Wondered if avoiding alcohol was really really necessary (yes I know alcohol doesn't actually help you sleep, it just feels as though it is doing).
Wondered if my breathing was getting long and shallow (contact your doctor immediately if this happens) or if I was losing control of any muscles (contact your etc etc) attempted to play a whole piece of music by Ten Have in my head (no you don't have to contact your doctor if this happens and anyway I couldn't get past the first fifteen bars so it didn't happen), thought soothingly about how at least I was lying down, resting my body (mostly), keeping my eyes shut (immediately opened them to check that this was true), and began to think yearningly of the computer, a cup of tea, a fag, a good book, the camera......
Thought 'consider water'. Did. Got up and went to the loo. It was 2 am. My usual bedtime.

I went downstairs, made a cup of tea, rolled a fag and found I'd left the book upstairs so sneered my way through the Radio Times Reader Offers from 2008 (which seemed to be mostly about bedding and pillows and mattresses* and soft sleepy things which certainly enhanced the sneering experience) then moved on to articles about how nice the Duke of Edinburgh and Gordon Ramsay are really (which encouraged me to swear a lot and feel I was in some sort of kindred company; not that I feel any other kind of kinship with either of them).

Went back to bed and covered the phone charger light with a pot. Barney was breathing softly and deeply and peacefully. I resisted the urge to knee him (accidentally) in a tender place. After a while, he paused in his peaceful sleeping and uttered a long, deeply felt Hhhhaaaaaaah----aaaah! (I felt it deeply through the pillow and the mattress, it must have been really satisfying for him).

Well eventually I must have gone to sleep because this morning I definitely was asleep just before I woke up bright and early.
I think a little pill management (two in the morning and none at bedtime - it's ok I checked with the pharmacist that this was going to be acceptable and safe) and relocation is going to be in order. Meanwhile, you will understand why I don't mind Barney going off for the night:)

On the swings side, avoiding alcohol has reduced my heartburn, allowing myself only one cup of coffee makes me appreciate the coffee a lot and it's been the most gorgeously warm sunny heavenly weather for the last four (?) days. Yesterday, wonderful, kind Thursday took me shopping so I got OUT!!!! and got to buy a lot of quite unnecessary foods to keep me going till Barney gets back. I've photographed everything in the garden, in next door's garden, up the road (only 50 yards up the road) and I've just made a cup of ginger and lemongrass tea which is quite delicious and a nice change from tea. And I'm wearing a teeshirt, cotton trousers and a cotton jacket which feels WONDERFUL. (After woolly tops and trousers and socks!).
Oh and the camera!!!!

Well there was a kite and the camera allowed me to take ooh, twenty pictures as it soared overhead




And even to catch it being chased off by two rooks


And here's a mended heart for I


And a bit of spare time for Mel
And a little tulip for Thursday's garden

*Why is mattresses spelt with two tt's?**
**I only ask because I would hve thought the word might have come from 'mat' and 'rest'. Maybe not . So how do you do a shrug emoti-thing?