2nd May 2005
Hi all,
It is a sad thing when you enter your thirties and you realise you can't do late nights the way used to.
To be honest it was only really a habit I developed by living alone when I moved to Scotland. When I lived with my parents I slept sensible hours. When I lived at University late nights had to be undertaken with consideration towards my housemates, so they were really only for studying.
Then I moved to Scotland, discovered what Scottish people did on New Year's Eve, met Lorraine and began to enjoy live baseball on Channel 5 (as it was then).
As much as Lorraine would say otherwise she played a big part in my role as a night owl. She is as much of a night person as I am, and despite me moving early on in our relationship both of my abodes happened to be an hour's round-trip from her parents' house. Less than a week into our relationship I had my 23rd birthday, and Lorraine popped round to celebrate with me. I ended up taking her home at about 3am, getting home myself at about 4am. I got to bed at about 4.30am. Important point here - my birthday was on a Thursday. I had to work the following day.
Fortunately at the time I had a job I hated, so given the choice of being bright and breezy every morning or being half-asleep the choice was a simple one. For one thing the infamous Miss Tazzar's words had a greater chance of going over my head when I was in such a state. Needless to say such occurrences were frequent.
Moving to a company I enjoyed working for didn't cure all the problems. Consider what happened when our friends Rico and Jennifer got married and I was short of holiday. They got married on a Thursday, which I took the day off for. I then returned to work on the Friday. No problem you'd think, until you add in the fact that the reception finished at 2am. Add in the round-trip to East Kilbride and you're looking at another 3am arrival at home. Add in an hour trying to get to sleep and you're looking at "4:00" in big red numbers on your alarm clock. Not good.
However for some reason back then it wasn't a problem for me. I could get up the next morning, get through the next day and be up past midnight the following night.
Sports played their part in this too. During the Braves' against-the-odds run to the 1999 World Series I had all kinds of late nights, watching both live games on Channel 5 and getting score updates from baseball websites. It isn't just restricted to the summer either. While my wife worked last New Year's Eve I went to see in the New Year with friends, then came home at about 3am and watched the remainder of the Peach Bowl live from Atlanta. After that I just stayed up before I went to collect Lorraine from work at 7.30am.
New Year's Eve (or "Hogmanay" as it tends to be referred to here) is huge up here, so much bigger than it is in England. For my last New Year "dahn Sarf" my parents were away and I had the house to myself. Everyone I invited round had left before 2am (after which I stayed up until 5am so I could see what happened when the New Year was celebrated in New York). For my first Scottish New Year I left the party I attended at 5.30am, got home at 6am and stayed up until 7am. For me now that's an average New Year (except for when Lorraine is working, obviously).
Now add in addictive computer games. For Christmas in 2003 Lorraine got me "Madden 2004", the American Football game that users had been raving about for months following its release. When Lorraine had a nightshift on a Saturday night just after Christmas it was a good excuse for an all-nighter. So that's what I did, although it made my answering of Lorraine's "What time did you go to bed?" question a bit difficult.
A really bad combination is addictive computer games + friends. On one of the first occasions that Neil Taylor came to visit me the two of us along with Jamie Sturt managed to play NHL '99 until 5am. As a comparison when I was playing the 2004 equivalent at Neil's a few weeks ago I was struggling to make it to 1.30am.
And that's the problem. I can't stay up as late as I used to without any side effects. If I'm up to about three or four in the morning I actually start to feel sleepy, where I previously used to be bright-eyed and more coherent than any other point of the day. Where I used to be as useful after a short night's sleep as I would be after a full night's sleep, now I need more hours than I used to. And if for some reason I do have a late night or not much sleep then I need a whole lot of time to recover.
So what's the reason for this? Getting older? That doesn't explain how some high-ranking elder statesmen get by on less sleep. No, I don't think that is it. Personally I suspect it has more to do with my getting the train into work. When I used to get a shuttle coach into Glasgow I could dose for thirty to forty minutes on the way in and on the way home. It isn't as easy to do that on a train when, a) You don't necessarily have a seat, and b) Sleeping on the journey could see you end up in either Clydebank or Lanark (depending on which way you're going).
Would I like to return to the days where I could get by with less sleep at night? It wouldn't be bad, and I think I'd be more productive. My time at home is precious, and I like making the most of it. What isn't likely is my becoming a morning person to compensate. Not in this lifetime anyway.
Have a good week!
Tony
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