Howling wind woke me up at around 3am. It then got married to lashing rain and between the pair of them they put paid to any thoughts of sleep by 6.30am. They'd even invited a black wheelie bin to their party that was doing the samba down the street, bouncing merrily away.
"Never mind," I thought. "Time enough to get up, wrestle with the Limbo, shower, dress, make a brekkie that I might be be able to eat and arrive in front of the tellybox in plenty of time for kick off at 9am."
An important day, you see. England vs South Africa in the Rugby World Cup Final. My birth country vs my adopted one. Win win for me really however 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' is my match song. My middle name is Rose, after all.
As the photo attached to this post attests our chariot may have swung low in the scrum but it didn't carry the golden cup home. After last week's scintillating win over the All Blacks we never seemed to get off the mark and certainly couldn't break through the Boks.
I watched rugby a lot during the 7 years I lived in South Africa 40 odd years ago. I've never been a fan of their stop, start, drop goal style of play. No sooner had one of the pundits said that the Springboks had won both their previous Rugby World Cups without scoring a try, they scored a beauty of one. And as the clock was ticking down they scored another. With both converted it left them with an unassailable lead, their name engraved on the cup before the final whistle had gone. The best team on the day definitely won.
That as maybe, coupled with the meteorological wedding party that by match end had turned into a rave the mood in my house was glum. Add into the mix the fact I am still feeling queasy what better thing to do than declare the rest of the day a duvet day.
So I did. And I slept. Lots of catching up to do.
According to the NHS:
'One in 3 of us suffers from poor sleep, with stress, computers and taking work home often blamed. However, the cost of all those sleepless nights is more than just bad moods and a lack of focus. Regular poor sleep puts you at risk of serious medical conditions, including obesity, heart disease and diabetes – and it shortens your life expectancy.'
The benefits of adequate, good quality sleep are many - it boost immunity & welling, it can slim you - studies have shown that people who sleep less than 7 hours a day tend to gain more weight and have a higher risk of becoming obese than those who get 7 hours of slumber. It also increases sex drive and improves fertility.
Many things make us tired including, of course physical exercise. Physical exercise though, whilst tiring us also makes us feel positive and stimulated mentally. This is why I love riding my bike and walking over hill and moor.
All this inactivity at the moment is exhausting me. Not just physically, which it is. The mental inertia is dreadful. I had given it thought before the Scalpel Man took his knife to me however its effect is so rapid. I am going to have to be careful.
Even though I have spent months recovering from several major surgeries in the past I have never been this less-abled with respect to my mobility. I have been far, far sicker but I have been able to put both feet on the floor; making progress step by step as each day passes is an immense achievement and really kept me on track mentally. Now the pain in my foot is abating my frustration is rising and it is starting to affect me mentally.
I need to come up with another cunning plan. I need to deal with this otherwise depression is going to flow over me like a wave.
I do have a seed of an idea however it requires specific assistance.
Watch this space.