Beyond The Wall of Sleep 1

It occurred to me this morning... because it was mentioned on the
Today program.. that I've not heard the Shipping forecast for at least
six months

the daily routine for the last 15-20 years has been
asleep at 10-11pm
woke up between 3.30-5am
then hours listening in the dark to
Shipping Forecast
Prayer for the day
Radio 5 5am news bulletin
Radio 5 5.30 Wake up to Money (Wake Up to Monetarism would be more accurate)
which gets me nice and angry for

Radio 4 Today show at 6am

and if I'm really lucky I get a ten minute late snooze in at 7ish
which makes me late for work

so for the first four hours of every morning I was incredibly
depressed. This was such a drag I was thinking of creating a website
called Hour of The Wolf that people could refer to instead of lying in
bed thinking of suicide options at the start of every day
In contrast, what a difference an Ipod, good Seinhauser inner ear buds
and some free podcasts have made.

Last night I slept heavily from 9.45 to 6.45 with three ten minute breaks
12.45am woke, put Ipod on The Times football podcast with 15 min sleep
timer, I was out in ten minutes
2.00am repeat of the above
3.45am same as above but 30 min sleep timer (lasted 15) and ESPN
soccernet podcast
woke at 6.45 not thinking about soccer but Fantastic Four comics

I've found that playing the podcasts through a speaker is less
effective than inner ear ear buds as they also cut out the outside
noise. Also routing the earphone cables around the back of your neck
helps prevent snags that can wake you in the night.
I've trained myself so well in this I've actually taken my favourite
podcasts off the overnight routine because I keep sleeping through
them! I've also become so dependent on great sleep I carry two ipods
around with me and two sets of headphones in case of problems.

and also worth mentioning.. I wouldn't sleep at all without some form
of 10-30 minute walk every day