Sleeping In

 Jane was on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific ocean, well it was perhaps not a desert island, but it was very nice, with the sun shining and all that sort of thing.
 Then a shark leaped out of the water and ate her. She tasted like chicken.

 Sorry, I'm trying to stay awake, and it's a bit difficult.

 You see, it's my night when I can stay up late, because in the morning I get to sleep in while my wife kindly gets up with the little one, and part of me is just determined to play on the computer for a while, because I can.  But I'm really good at being asleep - I've slept on a submarine, on a jeep safari, in far too many cars to count, sofas, floors... if I get a chance to sleep, I'll sleep.  Loads of TV shows, and loads of films, seriously, far too many films to count.

 The key thing seems to be whether my mind is being kept active.  For example, if I'm going somewhere in a car, I'll be awake, because I'm going to a place, and I'm thinking about what I'm going to do when I get there.  On the way back, I've done the thing I was going to do, and unless I have a reason to be awake (like if I'm driving, for example) I'll just go to sleep.

 Right now, I'm pretty tired.  As I write this it's 10pm here, and basically to stay awake I need sweet stuff, or coffee.  There's a bit of dinner left over, but I'm not in the mood for that, I need a shot of sugar or caffeine to keep me going.

(Writing pauses while I go and make a coffee, and eat two small chocolate balls)

(Writing continues to pause while I grab a blanket because it's getting chilly)

(The blanket smells)

(Sod it, let's crack on anyway)

 That's better.

 I've always suspected that we aren't designed to sleep the way we do, by staying awake for sixteen to eighteen hours straight, and then sleeping all in one go.  I bet that we're supposed to sleep in periods, yes perhaps with a longer period overnight, but with naps as well.  It's reasonable for young children and older people to snatch forty winks in an afternoon, I bet I could get used to having a nap too.

 Anyway, I'm going to struggle on :)  maybe I'll push through being tired and feel better. Or maybe I'll fall asleep at my desk!

Don't forget to vote for me in the UK Blog Awards 2017 if you haven't already, just head over to http://www.blogawardsuk.co.uk/ukba2017/entries/blog-thog and pop a vote in.  I'm shortlisted for 2 categories, Lifestyle and Digital & Technology, you can vote for both categories in one go from the link above, thanks :)

Sneaky Dreams...

This picture has nothing to do with this post.  I just felt like including a picture of a couple of Norwegian policemen.

Today I'm being picked up early to catch a train down to London, so last night I went to bed early and set my alarm for 5am, to give me time to get ready, ahead of being picked up just before 6.

So this morning I woke up, and I wasn't awoken by my alarm going off, so I thought "Hey, I've woke up before the alarm, that's good" and decided to watch a little bit of television for 5 minutes before making a start. 

Then I then decided to glance at my phone.

5.50am.

And a car drew up outside, which was my lift.  I panicked, and ran to get dressed.  I couldn't believe that I'd slept through my alarm - something which happens once in a blue moon.

As I'm upstairs frantically throwing a shirt on and picking a tie to wear, I can hear my mum downstairs talking to the chap who's picking me up explaining that I'm just getting ready, and I won't be a minute.

I become aware that I'm at my parents house, not my own - and I wonder how did the guy know to come to my parents house, when I only gave him my address?

Then I woke, in my own bed.

I checked the time, and it was 4am.

I got up anyway.

At least -  I think I have!

I must give a big thank you to Diane Lynn of the Gratitude Letters for the latest donation to the Robin Hoods Bay roadtrip campaign, it's much appreciated - do feel free to check out the campaign at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-robin-hoods-bay-roadtrip-friends-fun/x/7476667#/, it's got 12 days to go :)

Middle of the night

I'm a bit odd when it comes to sleep patterns.

I'm really good at sleep, it comes very much naturally to me. If you can give me a location, that I've been in, I've probably been asleep in it.  Places that would include:

• Beds (unsurprising I know, but I've got to start the list somewhere)
• Sofas
• Floors
• Many cars (generally when as a passenger, it should be said)
• Whilst watching many films, both at home and at the cinema
• A Jeep safari with branches hitting me in the head
• Whilst underwater in a submarine

Fighting off sleep isn't something that I'm good at.  Sure, the usual suspect of coffee can be employed to kick start things for a little while, but as a rule when my body wants to sleep, if there isn't some pressing reason for me to be awake, I let sleep happen.

The downside of this is that I won't feel tired when I should be asleep - this morning as I write this, for example, I woke up about half 2 in the morning, after falling asleep at about eight in the evening.

I know that as a result I'll probably be ultra-tired when it gets to this evening, but I'll desperately be trying to keep awake in order to try to get my sleep pattern back into some kind of order.

The thing is, I quite like being awake in the middle of the night.  I'm not a night owl - I'm much more of a morning person - but waking and getting up early is quite nice. I'm generally most creative when I first wake up (useful for blogging) and when the rest of the house is still sleeping you're able to do all those things that you'd like to do, such as watching several episodes of House or spending an hour looking at a website on train journeys.

I remember reading something about how the brain handles memories - apparently it basically takes everything in, and somehow packs it so that all the stuff that happens every day, the non-noteworthy stuff, sort of merges together, whilst the unusual stuff stands out more.  That's why you can often recall a holiday from years ago day-by-day, while what you had for lunch on a certain day last week is difficult to recall.

There was a point to all this... but, ironically, I've forgotten!

Anyway... how about yourself? What's your favourite time of the day? And how do you sleep? A comment would be awesome :)

In other news, I've just released the latest video in my "Best Ever Games" series, looking at Final Liberation: Warhammer Epic 40,000. Enjoy :)