Big Deal Update

I posted how I was going after a large contract worth some £30,000 every 18 months (for Michael that’s $60,000). After being whittled down to the last two, I learned yesterday that I had passed the writing test that had been set.

I’m now on my way to getting onto the company panel and my competitor for the assignments is no longer competing - both of us are going to be going on the panel; it will be a toss up as to who gets the first country assignments but there is apparently work for all.

It is not yet official but the finish line is definitely in sight.

Insomnia

I’ve suffered (or benefited) from insomnia for almost all my adult life. I can’t sleep in hotels unless I’ve been there for a week, sleeping over at friends on New Year’s Eve resulted in me walking home at 3am and occasionally, as with last night, I just don’t sleep at all.

Not to be put off, 4am in the morning is a good time to set things down on paper and there is nothing to disturb you - not even a mouse as I laid traps last week and caught them - the joy of country living. The issue is that the following day you are completely useless for anything productive so I try to avoid anything that gives me that “wide awake” feeling.

The number one culprit for my insomnia is thinking; once I have a thread revolving around the little grey cells, I’m away and there is no way I’m off to the Big Black as Spike Milligan referred to sleep.  My fellow insomniacs will be all to familiar with the “spinning mind syndrome” and it feels just like that.  Indeed, I read some research recently,  performed in New Zealand on 11 year old children and they found that it was the creative kids who were the ones that would suffer from sleeplessness.  This was a little surprising as creativity is one of the first brain faculties to be inhibited due to lack of sleep.

Over the years I have tried everything from sleeping pills, herbal remedies, hot milk and cookies, crossword puzzles and leaving a TV on with a sleep timer.  I find that the best way to cure the spinning mind syndrome is a notebook and pencil by the side of the bed - jotting the ideas down seems to be the best way of switching my brain off while my thoughts are still down on paper for the morning.

Failing that a good stiff Bowmore and a paracetamol.

Sweet Dreams

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