Sleep...

I have problems with it; three main problems ...

The first is going to it,

the second is staying in it ,

and the third - which, incidently, I am dealing with now - is emerging from it.

Of the three, the worst is the first.

This image of "the going to sleep process" occurred to me last night. Somewhere near the bed there is a continuously moving cable, like in a mine underground, and this cable travels off towards Sleepy Oblivion and all you have to do when you lie down is hang your consciousness onto it and - whoosh - off you go into dreamy slumber.

I can be as tired as you want: droopy-eyed tired; nodding-off-and-waking-with-a-start tired; weary-achy-limbs-of-lead tired, but the moment I get into bed I wake up and I thrash about in vain looking for that cable to hook my consciousness onto.

The only way is to read - read a book until I start to dream a sentence or two at which point I normally drop the book because I am dropping off. Then, if I am lucky and my timing is dead on, I can lie down without emerging too far from this incipient nod-offiness and hook my consciousness onto the cable... and ... zzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

That's if I'm lucky; if not it takes another 15/20 minutes of further reading till I can try again.

Last night it was the third attempt I think ... but then having read what I had read and then having proceeded to integrate what I had read into a dream...and then let the dream take some nasty, nasty turns and make some nasty, nasty developments ... I woke myself up!

Finally, it took till about 5 to get all drowsy again and that was an hour or so before the alarm WOKE ME ... and left me with problem 3 ... emerging.

Now, 2 coffees later, I only feel bleary-eyed and brain-dead - so it seemed the perfect time to blog!