Ouf! I am horribly tired as I’ve only had four hours sleep. I’ve never been one of these people who could get by on just a few hours: I need seven to function at all and eight to be fully human. When I lived in Spain I loved the fact that it was normal to nap in the afternoons, though alas even then the siesta was on its way out, and now it has probably disappeared altogether. Last night I woke at 2.30 and couldn’t get to sleep at all. My son’s music was thumping through the wall, not terribly loud but loud enough to be irritating, and when I asked him to turn it down he refused. He really is going through an impossible time at the moment. So in the end I got up at 5.30 to find the heating on full-blast. This was a bit of a mystery, but I have now solved it: apparently the boiler has got its am’s and pm’s mixed up and thought that 4.30 pm was in fact 4.30 am. Problem solved, except that I have to find some powerful glasses to reset it as the writing on the display is minuscule.
At 5.30 I decided to meditate; then, as I was still awake, I made a cup of tea and watched the dawn. This was awesome. There’s a particular kind of quiet at dawn (and at dusk) which makes it a good time for meditation. You can only truly appreciate the wonder of living on a revolving planet when you stay up to see the dawn. After that it was time to wake up properly, and now here I am – so goodness knows how today will go. I’m going to take it fairly easy…
OK it’s now nearly four o’clock and I’ve not done too badly: I’ve been into town and bought some stuff for the house (I got six wine-glasses free as it turned out because although the checkout woman helped me put them into a bag, she forgot to ring them up; I didn’t realise till I got home) and then it was straight into Dostoevsky for a few hours before I had a bath. I fell asleep in the bath as I usually do: it’s amazing how you can be sound asleep and yet not drop your face below the water-line. Some part of your brain must be awake, still – and that reminds me of another phenomenon which I swear happens every time I have a bad night. You know that moment when you’re sinking from drowsiness into sleep? Well, every time I hit that state, Mark chooses that exact moment to start fidgeting, and I wake up again. It happens every time, and I can’t figure out why, but it’s driving me mad.
Time to head back to 19th-century Russia…
Do svidaniya!
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 
Спокойной ночи !
Spocksky out
Very impressive! Didn’t know you spoke Russian!
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Its been around ten years or more since I was in spain with my artist mates, but they didnt have siestas. However, Manoly’s husband Juan, a professor at Granada University (science) would come home at midday for a siesta. It lasted around 2 hours, then he would munch on a bit of lunch before returning to uni., coming home around 8 pm. Seemed a very civilised way to live in the granada heat. Shame if its actually ending and spain is becoming just another european country………….
I know! On the other hand, it does mean that people end up working split shifts, so it’s not all good
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I don’t really speak Russian but know a few phrases, including “I don’t speak Russian”. Having learnt the alphabet I could read it off the page fairly convincingly, but lack of vocab would mean I couldn’t understand much. I like the sound of it but think nothing can equal Italian in that respect.
Spock out
I’d quite like to learn it but the alphabet puts me off a bit. How do you say ‘I don’t speak Russian’?
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Yah nye (soft e as in pet) gov/ar/yoo pah rooskey.
Я не говорю по-русски .
Don’t get too good, they might not believe you, think you’re a spy 😦
Spockskey out
Thank you
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