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Sunday, October 11, 2015

Sleep! Glorious Sleep!



I parked in front of an apartment block, and right in front of me on the first floor, (the one above the ground floor) there was a large sign displayed on the balcony of one of the apartments. It stated:

"Please! We have lived here for eight years and we have never had a solid night's sleep because of you. Please have consideration and go and play elsewhere."  The apartment next to it displayed a For Sale sign.

How important is it to be able to go to bed at a usual time and to get a good night's rest? Personally, I take this for granted. Even the dogs in my neighbourhood are generally quiet as we all go off to dreamland.

We recall that Michael Jackson's problem was his inability to sleep to the extent that extreme measures were taken to try and help him. Unfortunately those measures worked too well in his case. Spain is a country that learned long ago about the value of the siesta. In many other countries if you take a nap during the day you must be an old person. In Spain, everybody takes a siesta if they can. The health benefit of resting, especially during the long hot days of Summer, are legend. Anyway, when the sun goes down the country comes alive. 

To have your lunch and be able to let your chin sink to your chest and fall asleep is wonderful. The culture even mandates that all phone calls be held until 5 o'clock. What a civilised country this is!

I find one of the fastest ways to lull myself to sleep during the day is to sit in front of the tv. Within minutes of the talking heads telling me of the news I fall into a deep sleep. Sometimes, just as I'm about to slip away the announcer starts saying something really interesting, but too late, I'm gone.

There are times when the neighbours are still very active, especially the children diving and splashing and screaming in the pools. You might think that would keep me awake. Nope! It has the same effect as sitting in front of the tv.

If you walk into the room and you see that I'm asleep with the tv on, please don't turn it off. I'll awake and say, "Hey! I was watching that!"

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael