This morning I made the somewhat questionable decision to skateboard down the hill to work. I realised that I was running about five minutes late, meaning I was going to have to run a good 200 yards of the journey anyway, so a glance at my skateboard in the hall cupboard as I was putting on my coat was all the convincing I needed.
It’s been a weird 24 hours without water here in Helensburgh. At some point yesterday a water main at the far east end of town ruptured, cutting off supply to some 6000 homes.
Of course, the first we knew about it was when I got home and went to wash my hands to discover there was hardly any pressure there. This led to me wandering down to the kitchen and unwittingly draining away the last of what little we had in the tank in trying to investigate the problem.
Soon after that a neighbour stopped by to warn us of the bigger issue and advised that they were giving water away at a couple of places around the town. Fliss went off and picked up a six pack of two litre bottles, which we’ve used sparingly.
After another night of broken sleep, courtesy of my little daughter paying numerous visits, I found it quite apt to see Matt’s post of this NY Times article on the importance of sleep on my WordPress dashboard this morning.
Yes, the article contains the usual sleep related fodder, like how the brain doesn’t just shut down but actually processes stuff. That and the eye-opening (sorry) fact that you perform better after a good night’s sleep.
No kidding?
What is interesting is the mention of changing attitudes toward sleep in corporate circles. Fliss actually worked at a place with a relaxation room, back at the tail end of 2001 (Enjoy-Work.com), where you were encouraged to go and lie down on recliners in a dark room and listen to ambient sounds to soothe you. I’ve yet to learn of a company that encourages you to top up on your sleep whilst you’re at work, though – the chance would be a fine thing!
I can safely say that I haven’t had a really good night’s sleep in years. I’m just rubbish at it – I either wake up when there’s no reason to, or have it sabotaged in some way – like on Saturday night when the rail company were chopping down trackside trees along the nearby railway line at 2am. The trains are too infrequent to disturb me, but rasping chainsaws within earshot are not conducive to deep sleep.
Maybe I should see if there are any sleeping analysis places in Glasgow? You know, the places that monitor you and tell you what’s going wrong after your head hits the pillow. I’ve thought of doing that before, of course, but then the fear of waking up with morning glory usually deters me from taking it any further! 😉