On not going to bed

Morning: Ian gets up with his father at 7.  I often don't wake when he gets up but generally stir at about a quarter to eight and get up soon after eight.  For those of you who are hating me now, I would just like to say that I have served my time with children whose day started cheerily at 5 and with work demanding I leave the house at 6.15.  One of the great things about working for myself and no longer dancing to the salary man's tune is that I can go with my own body clock, and my clock says nothing should happen before 7 and that somewhere around 8 to 8.30 is when I should be starting the day.

And then morning between 10 and 12 is firing on all cylinders time, doing the tricky things, setting up the challenging spreadsheet, putting in the tax return, nailing the impossible.

Lunchtime for me should be about 1 but is generally earlier because FIL is definitely ready for a sandwich around 12 and by 1 is up for slitting his wrists or making his own.  We compromise, generally, a bit, closer to the early end.

Afternoons are for the long haul stuff: the weeding, the report writing, the making of bread, the odd brief interlude hiding in the wooden greenhouse crushing the leaf of a scented geranium and watching the hens scratch.

Evening meals happen a bit early, again the inevitable result of compromise.  FIL would have eaten at 5.  I would settle for 7ish. Mostly that means a 6 to 6.30 meal where the downside is not being quite hungry enough and the upside is a gloriously long evening.  Especially in summer this is wonderful.

Bedtime: FIL: 10.10.  Ian: varying, can be early, can be startlingly late.  Me: ideally about 11.30 but sometimes that means, as now, that I am the only one up. 

Such a strange thing.  Surely what really matters is temperament, intelligence, empathy, kindness, wit and edge?  And yet how much of life is governed by basic things.  When you do you want to sleep?  When you do want to eat?

Is this just me?

Comments

  1. I dont wear a watch, so my timings are usually governed by what the sun is doing and/or how tired I am. As for food, again not very good with that either, so I eat when I am hungry - sadly though sometimes I dont realize I am hungry. And then I have lunch at about 4 o'clock, not good. So I think I go with my own body clock, but its not always accurate!
    K

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  2. Another basic thing - I'd better just check my emails/the news/facebook/twitter in case something's happened that I just shouldn't miss. Trouble is, that's about every ten minutes.

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  3. There's an old Irish song that goes: I'll eat when I'm hungry
    I'll drink when I'm dry
    If moonshine don't kill me
    I'll live till I die!

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  4. I do everything about an hour later than I ought to and I have a funny broken up sleep schedule. I sleep when I feel the need to. It is in broken up chunks of time. I eat when I feel like it and that's when I'm hungry. Because I live alone, it doesn't bother anyone as long as I get everything done in a 24 hour cycle. I do take medicines and have to keep on a schedule for that. I don't think I could share my time and space now with anyone else.

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  5. Right now, with no job and no real 'community' yet, I have no set timetable for anything. We eat supper when husband comes home from work, which can vary widely. Time has taken on a slightly bizarre shade for me, as we're almost exactly 12 hours ahead of everyone 'back home' and this means I am constantly calculating what everyone is doing on the opposite time table. For some reason, that's been the worst, being awake all day here and knowing most of my friends and family at home are asleep.

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  6. There's too much to say about this subject. However, having had one of THOSE educations, my life is governed by time keeping.

    I'm always first up, and last to bed. And I wouldn't change a thing!

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  7. I'm still on a work schedule and can't make myself stay in bed past 7 - and that's on the weekend. I long to be able to sleep late, and hope to work on that skill again someday soon!
    Eating?....breakfast long and bits and pieces.......lunch late.....supper around 7 and then tea and a cookie at 9 or 10, before bed.

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  8. I'm a lark, hubby an owl. It has taken us years to adjust, perhaps not helped by the fact that he's only here at weekends. He's tired from the working week and travelling 250 miles home, and I'm bright and breezy. By the time he gets going on a Saturday afternoon I'm knackered and the shops are shutting!

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  9. I used to be a lark and was cheerfully "up and doing", with jobs (and young children) that started early in the morning. Now I have slipped into owlish ways, which fits in better with my OH.

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  10. Here on the farm our lives are governed by absolutely on the spot timing for meals etc. Get up at 6.30, lunch at 12.30, tea at 5, supper at 10 and fairly early to bed. I have got into the pattern now and find it a very easy way to conduct my life without stress.

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  11. I was in a cafe today where a poster read: "Sleep till you're hungry. Eat till you're sleepy." Sounds ok, doesn't it?

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  12. Karen - would love to know what would happen if I lost watches and artificial light. Sounds like nothing but I suspect it would turn me upside down.

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  13. And now, my husband having indicated that he might appreciate not going to bed by himself, I am going to bed - look, 15 minutes early!

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  14. How nice of you to come and visit me from Wales...a place I would love to come and see, maybe some day.

    I am a morning person, it is when I am most able to get things done, so I like to start early. But...I do nap every afternoon and this allows me to stay up rather late. You are lucky to be able to live by your own internal clock. Have a great day!

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  15. Ah yes, working from home is what I cherish at the moment. Our meal times are often variable due to work or other demands, such as daughters and grandsons! Right now I am revelling in a quiet Sunday morning as yesterday we had houseful of noisy, hungry boys. I'll breakfast later I think.

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  16. Because I work at a school 9 months out of the year, I have to get up about 5:30--I absolutely hate getting up that early. Now that summer vacation is here, I sleep in til 7:30. I eat much less during the summer also--often skipping lunch and having a late breakfast. I do have my coffee every morning and after noon I switch to sweet iced tea!I'm a Southern girl! I also love the summer fruits, especially nectarines, watermelon and strawberries! I could dine on guacamole every night with a lime beer! In cool months, I go back to hot tea. I suppose I am in many ways a creature of habit!

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  17. It's the accommodation to FIL that strikes me, Elizabeth. It's small, in a way, but significant nonetheless. Your life isn't quite your own, is it?

    Our schedule is a lot like yours - up by 8, lunch at 1, dinner at 7;30, bed sometimes late, sometimes early. When left to my own devices, I eat only when hungry and often skip lunch altogether. And I'm up very late - a holdover from the days when the kids were little and late nights were the only hours I could have to myself.

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  18. A very good point. I think it is a shame that following one's natural body rhythm is often not possible in the chasing-the-clock life most of us lead. I am greatly governed by my children in my day-to-day organisation these days: making regular lunches etc., etc. However when the day to day routine becomes irksome (and here I finally get round to answering your question ;-)) I think about my almost 90 year old father who has achieved SO much with his brains and talent and has done so mainly because of his regular as clockwork routine. He has two motos: first; 'routine is essential but NOT ALL THE TIME' and second, 'everything in moderation... most of the time'. It has got him far and has kept him in fine form.

    Thank you for visiting me over in France.

    ps Please, how do I get a 'leave your comment layout' like yours? Sorry but I am new to this Blogger farce!

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  19. I've worked for myself for over twelve years and have got into the habit (when permitted) of having a 30 minute nap in the afternoon.

    Listening to 'The Archer's' theme music is usually enough to make my eyelids drop. (Mass gasp of disapproval!)

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  20. As a bit of an owl, I like the phrase "Up before seven, half-dead by eleven"!

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  21. Gosh, if I didn't dance to the salary man's tune, I'd be nocturnal. Which is actually not healthy :-/

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  22. Accommodating other people's rhythms can be tricky. We eat earlier to suit MIL and FIL, but I do appreciate the long run in the light in the summer, I can do quite a bit. Your description of when you do what was eerily familiar, although at the moment I have allocated a morning slot to the allotment, and don't get down to work until the afternoon. I love the freedom to call the shots, apart from the evening meal. I find it hard to remember what it was like when I was working in an office, with other people, and needing to sync in with their rythms. As to bedtime, TNG and I usually manage to be in sync, but if we get our heads stuck in books, can find ourselves still up way later than intended, or than is good for us... Oh, and if it makes you feel any better, I'm just about up for a cup of tea by 8am, but don't actually stir properly until after 9am!

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  23. I married an insomniac .... ( that sounds as though the sequel might be called " Murder . I Was Driven To It " ).
    He married a woman who must eat breakfast in peace .
    But we get along much better than you'd think !

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  24. I think I was a sloth in a past life. Ideally I would sleep until about 8.30-9 and go to bed at about 9.30-10. At any time during the the day if I lay my head down I fall asleep almost immediately. I have to force myself to get up before 7.30 and then be on the go all day, relentlessly, never letting the adrenalin drop, or else I just start yawning. I guess that's why I'm always busy busy busy. Yawn. But bed after 11 is impossible.

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  25. The OH is up by 6.00am but as I'm 'unemployed' at the moment I don't have to be up at a specific time. Yet, I feel guilty if I'm not up by 7.00am at the latest and 'doing something'.

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