Sunday 9 January 2011

Last night, Z couldn't get to sleep at all...

I was in bed well before midnight, too.  Very boring.  I read, I played games.  Scored 122 in one move on iPhone Scrabble, but I can't remember either of the words involved.  I finally fell asleep some time after 4.15 and was woken three hours or so later by Radio 4 playing Boney M, which was annoying.  I hate it when Radio 4 plays music in the morning, I like to wake up to the droning of voices.  It was the early service, but my good friend Sybil had kindly said she'd do my sidesman duties, as I'd be going to the 11 o'clock service, so I went back to sleep for another hour.  It's a funny thing, that however much I can't sleep at night, I always can when it would be a reasonable hour to get up.  I have, at least, resolutely not had a daytime nap today, in the hope of being thoroughly exhausted tonight.

When I woke the second time, I heard Zerlina talking in her bedroom.  Her father went to fetch her and I heard her cheerfully piping voice chatting to him about the rocking horse in his and Weeza's room.  I did poached eggs for breakfast, two of them new-laid this morning.  The Sage went out to fetch the eggs from the nest boxes.  It was a crisply frosty morning, but the sun shone and it was a beautiful day.  Much more invigorating than the dreary rain we had on Friday.

Weeza and co left mid-morning, so that Zerlina could have her lunch and her nap at home and they'd get some weekend stuff done, and Wink left after lunch.  She was going to call on her step-son and his wife on her way home, north of London.  She hasn't phoned yet to say she's safely home, but we're expecting a call in the next half-hour.  Interestingly, she has also, indignantly, decided to boycott The Archers from now on.  She didn't know I'd said the same thing as she rarely has a chance to read the blog any more - she spends the day largely at the computer at work, so has given up her home Broadband as she doesn't really want to look at a screen in the evening too.  She says she's been listening for 45 years, but this has done it for her - why, she asked dramatically, does one 'celebrate' 60 years of a programme by killing off the most delightful character?  Why kill anyone?

Mind you, I was thinking of 45 years ago.  A teenager in the mid-sixties.  The Swinging Sixties.  "I know," thought Wink. "I'll start listening to a radio soap on the Home Service."  We were rarely cutting edge, Wink and me.

32 comments:

Unknown said...

Well done Z. That's a VERY GOOD scrabble score in one go. A triple- triple, I suppose?

Z said...

I really can't remember. The stats give my best word and my highest score in one go. The best word was fizzes for 81, but I scored that a while ago, so it was two words that each scored less than that.

The iPhone Scrabble app is okay, but the normal level isn't anything of a challenge, while the hard one always uses the best available word, so is very hard to beat, especially in the middle of the night when I can't sleep!

Z said...

Can't have been a triple-triple, come to think of it, because it's not divisible by three.

Dave said...

To be fair the Boney M clip was played as part of an item about the use of the Bible in modern culture.

Z said...

Yes, but the thing was, it isn't what you expect to be woken by at 7.15ish on a Sunday morning on Radio 4. I hate it when the Today programme does it too, using some gimmicky bit of loud music early in the morning (when that happens, it's rarely relevant to the news item). I have my alarm set to Radio 4 because I don't want to be woken by music. I'm sure I'm not unusual in this.

Dave said...

Ah well, I don't expect to be woken at 7.15ish. The music fitted in perfectly well as I ate my breakfast.

Z said...

This is latish for you, though, isn't it? Too much pain to sleep?

Dave said...

I don't get my breakfast until I'm up, washed, dressed and otherwise ready to face the day. I'm not a dressing-gown sort of person.

Gledwood said...

The best sleeping pill is zopiclone 7.5mgx2. These have a "low abuse potential" ~ ie instead of making you wobbly and high and wide awake for hours on end you actually SLEEP!

If you've never scored sleepers off your doc before bear in mind how shallow and easily manipulated they are. Ask for the sleepers FIRST thing in the appointment not last. Make it clear you've tried hot baths, lavender, homoeopathy, nytol etc etc. Say your elderlly aunt was on 15mg zopiclone a night and gave you 2 pills every day you stayed there over Xmas, that way you've a far better chance of scoring them. They work really well. Just make sure nobody phones you up after you've taken them. You'll burble all sorts of crap down the phone and won't remember any of it. I once told someone I was moving to Amsterdam on zopiclone. I had no recollection whatsoever the following day. Bastard pills. They DO make you sleep really lovely.

And if they try on that craptrap about natural sleep always restoring itslef naturally challenge them to have you in their bedroom with your insomnia all night and see how raring they are to go to work next morning.

People with really severe insomnia are given something like 30mg temazepam 2 days in a row, rollowed by zopiclone for the next 2 days, followed by chloral betaine for the next three. None of these substances are cross tolerant so you can shoot them down in flames if/when they claim the pills will iniiate addiction because they don't. I know someone with schizoaffective disorder who gets this combination and sleeps like a baby. And is no more addicted to sleepers than I am to the baby's bottle I had when I was 3.

Those prissy doctors will do anything to make you suffer so make sure you score good and get a decent night's sleep. THEY're not thet ones up all night. when THEY can't sleep they prescribe themselves whatever they see fit. It's only their patients they come over all prissy with. Dont't let that wash. Get some decent heavy drugs, knock yourself out and sleep like a baby!

that's Gledwood's advice!!

Gledwood said...

The best sleeping pill is zopiclone 7.5mgx2. These have a "low abuse potential" ~ ie instead of making you wobbly and high and wide awake for hours on end you actually SLEEP!

If you've never scored sleepers off your doc before bear in mind how shallow and easily manipulated they are. Ask for the sleepers FIRST thing in the appointment not last. Make it clear you've tried hot baths, lavender, homoeopathy, nytol etc etc. Say your elderlly aunt was on 15mg zopiclone a night and gave you 2 pills every day you stayed there over Xmas, that way you've a far better chance of scoring them. They work really well. Just make sure nobody phones you up after you've taken them. You'll burble all sorts of crap down the phone and won't remember any of it. I once told someone I was moving to Amsterdam on zopiclone. I had no recollection whatsoever the following day. Bastard pills. They DO make you sleep really lovely.

And if they try on that craptrap about natural sleep always restoring itslef naturally challenge them to have you in their bedroom with your insomnia all night and see how raring they are to go to work next morning.

People with really severe insomnia are given something like 30mg temazepam 2 days in a row, rollowed by zopiclone for the next 2 days, followed by chloral betaine for the next three. None of these substances are cross tolerant so you can shoot them down in flames if/when they claim the pills will iniiate addiction because they don't. I know someone with schizoaffective disorder who gets this combination and sleeps like a baby. And is no more addicted to sleepers than I am to the baby's bottle I had when I was 3.

Those prissy doctors will do anything to make you suffer so make sure you score good and get a decent night's sleep. THEY're not thet ones up all night. when THEY can't sleep they prescribe themselves whatever they see fit. It's only their patients they come over all prissy with. Dont't let that wash. Get some decent heavy drugs, knock yourself out and sleep like a baby!

that's Gledwood's advice!!

Z said...

Nor am I, unless I give up on sleep at 4am or so and come downstairs. But that's when I've had a few hours of sleep, not when I've been unable to sleep at all, as happened last night.

I meant, you're commenting late now

Z said...

Gled, you're introducing me to a whole new world.

Dave said...

Oh, right. I thought you meant 7.15 was late for me, but I couldn't really make sense of the comment. I can now.

The painkillers make me dopey but not sleepy. The pain doesn't help either.

The Scrabble's so exciting it's keeping me awake too.

Perhaps I ought to go to bed.

Z said...

You're on a roll, Dave.

Mike, Dave has just scored 92 against me with DEORBITS, and didn't even use a triple, thank goodness.

Dave said...

I've just laid down another 7 letter word too. I'm going to bed before my luck runs out.

Z said...

I've put down all my letters, but I couldn't match your score. Well done. Goodnight.

Roses said...

See, this is what happens when I go to bed early.

I miss all the good stuff.

Unknown said...

With scores like that I must remember never to play you or Dave. Have you (or Dave) ever scored over 500 points in a game? I've got near to it a couple of times in a two handed game but never achieved it. Daughter Ruth (Nea) has. Oh well, I've still got a target to aim at.

P.s. A triple-triple score doesn't have to be divisible by three, as you'll also be claiming the extra 50 points for putting down all seven letters in hand. I think.

Z said...

Gledwood's comment alone is enough to re-educate all of us. If ever I want to thoroughly manipulate adoctor, now I know how to do it.

My highest phone score is 533, presumably on that game, and both Dave and I have scored over 500 on Facebook. I have in a 'real' game too, but when I played with my children as teenagers, I had the advantage of having learned the 2-letter words.

You can't compare a Facebook game with playing at home, because you have as much time as you want and can check any word for eligibility before using it. You're even given a list of 2-letter words. So it's much more down to luck of the tiles you draw - I certainly have often used words that I wouldn't risk face to face.

Dave said...

My best word score was 117, with HERTZES. Best total score 513.

But as Z says, playing it on FB is easier.

Dave said...

Oops. I just seem to have scored 132 with ZORILLO (Z on a double letter, the whole word on a triple).

Z said...

It's an incredibly high-scoring game. I'm doing pretty well, but I haven't a chance against Dave's letters

Z said...

You'd think I'd be keeping my end up with scores including 44, 65, 51 and 89, but Dave's scored 92, 82 and 132.

Z said...

At present, with a total of 15 letters to play, Dave's on 480 and I'm on 391. I've got a ragbag of letters, can't see much to do with them, but we're bound to top 900 combined points, which is a remarkable score. Pity to be on the losing side, but I've kept up pretty well under the circumstances.

Dave said...

These comments would make up an entire blog post...

Dave said...

...oh. It's finished. Better go and do some housework I suppose.

Z said...

Dave mashed me, 528 to 415. What a score, though!

Z said...

What?

Oh, I suppose I've got stuff to do, too. Started with a 7, though.

Christopher said...

Where do you get two Zs from? (This isn't a joke. Or is it?) When I was a teenager in my mid-sixties there was only one Z in the bag. Fizzes, indeed.

Z said...

One of them was a blank, Chris.

Z said...

So, of course, wasn't part of the score.

I've cleaned the kitchen,but Dave hasn't put in another word. I've scored 84 with decoyer, but I suspect he'll have a massive score, because the R is next to the triple.

Christopher said...

Never mind. You're sitting pretty. He can't do 'zopiclone' or 'temazopam' because there isn't an R in them. Like those non-oyster months the other day.