Red Eye - the diary of an insomniac

Here we are again.  1.00 am and not a hope of sleep.

This time it's the painful leg preventing me.  Not that I need an excuse not to sleep.  It has become a way of life.

There's a gale blowing and the windows are rattling, so they have been closed.  That really doesn't help much.  Lack of fresh air is not an aid to healthy sleep - whatever that is.

It has been quite a trying day, problems and tensions and truly awful weather, but that alone would not be enough to cause insomnia.

My leg hurts, but that wouldn't keep me awake if my mind could be battered into submission.

Since it does no good to lie fretting, I invariably get up, go downstairs, prowl around a bit and wind up on the computer.

Oddly the very thing which normally gives me a degree of comfort and at least the feeling of someone being around or contactable, fails dismally in the wee small hours when even the blogs are silent.

Even with the windows shut I can hear an owl hooting.  Not common at this time of the year, but at least someone is up and about.

During the evening my step-daughter rang and told me that Simon her son is coming back from Afghanistan
tomorrow (thank God).  This has been his second tour of duty in that wretched war-torn wreck of a country,
and, I believe, though nothing much can be said about it, it has been a particularly stressful tour this time,

Hopefully, if all goes to plan he will be home for a good long while.

He spent his 20th birthday in Iraq, his 22nd birthday in Afghanistan and has just completed another stint.

Provided the return goes without incident he should be de-briefed, rested and on leave in a few days.

Good news yet one cannot help thinking of the replacements flying out to fill the gaps left by this group.

There seems to be no end to this struggle.

It will make a change to be lighting a candle of thanks rather than a plea for help.

Oh joy, rain is once more battering the windows.  This drought is exceptionally wet!