The alarm on my phone drags me from sleep. I lean over, grab the offender and slide the snooze button. That gives me ten minutes to get moving. I snuggle down instead, my head still pounding. Overwarm, my feet seek the cold morning air… the heating won’t be on yet, but I am wide awake after the fairly early night. The first weak glimmer of light casts dim shadows through the pale curtains. I should move… and I need coffee.
Swinging myself upright, I apply yet another tissue to a nose that would already give Rudolph a run for his money. My feet find strategically placed slippers as I don the dressing gown. It is still dark as I wander into the kitchen and flick the switch on the kettle. I do not turn on the lights… I can see enough and the assault on my eyeballs can be delayed a little while longer.
The dog is still stretched out on the sofa. It is funny how, every night, she insists on seeking her own bed, where she decided it should go, in the hallway… yet every morning she is asleep on the sofa. She stretches and demands to be let out. I oblige and make coffee. Make her breakfast. She gives me a strange look and wolfs it down before wandering back outside.
It is cold with the door open. The horizon is still dark… the light is coming from the near-full moon in a cold, clear sky. The dog deigns to come back in and pointedly plops the ball down on my footstool. I throw it obediently… but instead of bringing it back, she takes it to her bed and curls up. I wonder if she is well… maybe she’s going down with something too?
The computer screen wakes up, so I schedule a couple of writephoto posts as I drink my coffee. Wander into the shower. It is still quite dark. Make another coffee, dress and check the time for work. Half past… eleven.
Half past eleven???
I check all the clocks… and my phone. The alarm has not gone off. It will not sound for hours yet… I must have been dreaming when I turned it off. I have slept for about an hour all told. But now what do I do? I am showered, dressed and ready for work, but my ‘work’ probably hasn’t even gone to bed yet…
After a day of shivering, I’m burning up. I go to make another cuppa and take something for the temperature… I’m blaming this cold. As I wait for the kettle to boil, I wonder about the nature of reality… I hadn’t really turned off the alarm, because it hadn’t really rung. It was just a dream. But I believed that it had and that I had… and that belief had kickstarted my body into its morning routine. Not only mine, but the dog’s too. Even the fish in the aquarium are asking for breakfast. And now I am wide awake. It is not what is that changes our world, but what we believe that ‘is’ to be. If only I could truly believe I didn’t have a stinking cold and look like the proverbial reindeer…
The dog, who seldom bothers with existential questions, but focuses entirely on what is and what the moment might yield, joins me in the kitchen. She looks speculatively at the treat cupboard…with all the air of a starving creature who has not just devoured an unexpected supper. Midnight or not, I yield…
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
I’d be sitting in my chair in the lounge trying hard to grasp an extra few hours of sleep from the Gods if they’ve stopped laughing yet. These little tricks they play amuse them so and you gave the extra with the glow from your nose.
Hugs.
ps. I hope you’re feeling better.
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I did, eventually, David 😉
And thank you, I’m fine…. from the neck down. The head feels full of sloshy cotton wool at the moment! xx
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You got us beat. We never know what day of the week it is, but we are usually pretty good with the whole day/night thing. I’m sorry you are feeling so poorly. We’ve been sort of droopy for a couple of months too. I keep thinking it must be something about the weather. Too hot, too wet, too windy … then suddenly too cold and snowy and windy and wasn’t it too hot last week?
Feel better. I can only imagine how thrilled our furry friends would be should we feed them at an unaccustomed time. I think we could feed them every hour and they would just keep eating until they explode.
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Me neither… when all seven days start the same, there is no way of knowing 😉
The weather really is being very strange at the moment. Almost springlike when we were in the north, then back to frost and fog.
Ani knew perfectly well that something wasn’t right… she just wasn’t going to tell me while the food was still coming…
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The U.S. issued a 1600 page report on climate change today and ALL the news is bad. Some is terrible, but all of it is bad. We are not waiting for climate change. We are IN it.
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I think we ordinary non-scientific folk have known that for quite some time… The only debate has been whether it is man-made, man-exacerbated, part of the planet’s natural cycle or a combination…
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According to the report, there is NO question but it is manmade. There are natural changes, but they don’t happen in 50 years.
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Not having read the report, only hearing so much conflicting stuff at the moment (as usual!), I’ll take your word for that. Everything I have heard or read over the past few years convinces me that even if it is a natural rhythm, we have done nothing but make the situation worse.
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I believe that is it. Sure there are natural rhythms, but we have messed with them to such a degree that nothing natural can happen most places. We are everywhere. We are like insects on the planet, the world’s termites. We don’t mean to be, but I think we are. And there are so many greedy people who see any place that hasn’t been ruined and immediately try to figure out how they can dig it up, drill down, or build something on it.
I get so frustrated I don’t even know what I can do that might help. It’s such a huge problem and requires the cooperation of absolutely EVERYBODY. The only reason you can believe that what’s going on has nothing to do with humans and what we do is that you don’t want to see it. There’s no disagreement among scientists about it, either just like no one with any knowledge believes we got rid of smallpox by praying for a cure. It’s hard for me to understand how people can believe Terry Pratchett’s world was the real deal! Flat. On the backs of giant elephants. Standing on a giant turtle swimming through space.
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I hae to agree, Marilyn. All we can do as individuals is our own little bit wherever possible… and every bit of that matters. But it does need a concerted global effort to address the problems we have and are causing.
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I think if we get together to fix the planet, we will also fix the economy and our lives. I think it will all come together. The things we will need to invent and then produce. The changes in the way we live will require tons of new ideas. It will need many more people trained to use them. Politicians seem to think that you can’t do something new without losing something, but I think it’s the opposide. Each new thing gives us more. I think if we work together — all people everywhere — to make this a good place to live for us and for all the animals and birds and fish and even those icky bugs — we will improve our own lives beyond our wildest expectations.
When no one is poor, we will all be rich.
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I hope you are right, Marilyn… not about the need, because that goes without saying…it really isn’t rocket science… but about our ability to do so. Human nature being what it is, we are really good at taking a short term view and shooting ourselves in the foot.
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Yes. We are very good at shooting ourselves in the foot. Very good.
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We doneed one collective talent 😉
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Ah indeed. Those nights of the discombobulation. Not fair at all. Hope the sinuses give you a break soon
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The dog enjoyed it, at least 🙂
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No matter how bad you are feeling, you always manage to put a smile on everything, Sue. I hope the nose is back to normal…
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I am currently feeling like death overwarmed-up… but doubtless that too will pass. Eventually 😉
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And quickly, too, I hope…
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Me too…
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Hope you got some more sleep Sue!
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Not a lot 😉
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Poor you 😢
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❤
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Oops. So what did you do? Went back to bed or …
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Snoozed on the sofa 😉
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😊
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I’m not laughing at you, Sue, but at the situation and at the fact Ani, after gulping down her unexpected breakfast worked things out quicker than you and retired to the sofa. I hope you feel better soon.
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Aye, but not before she’s tried for the treats too…not daft, that dog 😉
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The mind plays tricks on us especially when we aren’t feeling well. Hope you are feeling better soon. xo
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Thanks, Darlene, still feeling pretty grotty at the moment 😦
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Oh my, dare I ask if you eventually went back to bed? Ani does make one smile, though. 🙂 I do hope you are feeling better soon ❤
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No, I snoozed on the sofa for an hour or two though… with Ani 😉
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🙂
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Jeez… Nothing worse than waking up, feeling you had a full night’s sleep but realise it’s only been a couple of hours. After doing all that, getting back to sleep is difficult… Hope your snooze on the couch was recuperative…
Feel better!
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As I had already showered and dressed, and downed enough coffee to get me going, the sofa was all that was left 😉
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I truly feel your pain.
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😉
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Oh no! I would stay up and write, but probably pay for it at the end of the day. I hope you got a nap in, Sue.
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I did write for a couple of hours before heading for the sofa… but as I had to be up by six anyway, there wasn’t much time left for snoozing. I seldom get chance to nap though, and it was late by the time I got home again…
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Oh, no!!
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Yep 😉
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☹️
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Oh my Sue, are you ever the Energizer bunny lol. I’m sure your body was telling you how tired you really still were. Next time I’m sure you’ll double check the clock when the alarm goes off, lol. 🙂 xx
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You can be very sure I will be checking, Debby…and especially before I feed that dog 😉 xx
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Lollllllll 🙂 xx
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A bit of fever-induced hallucination, possibly instigated by Small Dog. 😀 … what a bugger that you had to go to work after that though.
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Given that I can’t sleep tonght either, you may be right… though this time, I know what time it is. And I’ll be going to work today regardless…
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Geet well from that cold, Sue. I did the same darn thing last night – went to bed early, slept deeply, dreamed and suddenly awoke ready to go at 12:30 AM! The cat regarded me with a what the heck? sleepy stare from between the pillows. So I wrapped myself up in the blankets and stroked the cat (always a good way to get back to sleep).
Don’t think Ani would want a cat, though….
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I think Ani would very much like a cat… though I’m not sure the cat would like it 😉
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Oh, my, the opposite of what you really needed, Sue– deep rest! Now you know that Ani heads straight to the sofa after seeing you to bed. 😉 Hope you are feeling better now and better rested.
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I knew it anyway… her claws on the wooden flooring of the hall past my door are a dead giveaway 🙂
I woke this morning, really wishing I could stay in bed and sleep more… but Nick awaits. In the kitchen, the clock said 2.45… I groaned. Not again! Thankfully, it had stopped overnight! You couldn”t make that up 😀
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No wonder Ani was looking at you strangely.
Hope you get well soon, and don’t have too many more nights like that.
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Thanks, Tori. So do I… but Ani id not waste her opportunity 😀
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