Sleepy Sunday

Happy Sunday everybody.  No matter what time zone you are in, I am sure that it will be Sunday for you at some point.

I know, the blogging that I am doing has become very infrequent, but let me assure you that it doesn't meant that I forgotten to do so, but just that I haven't gotten around to it.  There is also the fact that I like to have something to talk about, and therefore I have to have something happen for there to be one or more subjects in that discussion, although calling it a discussion isn't particularly appropriate, as it just seems to be me talking, and a discussion would require more than one person be involved.

Here I am then on one of those night shifts again, this one starting on the Saturday evening, and finishing on Sunday morning.  No Sunday morning newspaper, cup of tea, and breakfast in bed for me again then.  It's the simple things in life isn't it?

I guess what I miss with my job the most is the fact that it gets in the way of having a life with people.  I read something on a website that was talking about the fact that to get a decent sleep people should be in bed before ten at night, and I sort of found article offensive.  It presumed, like most, that all people were like them - work nine to five every day, maybe with the occasional bit of overtime, and every weekend off.  If only that were the case.  In honesty, for most of my working life I have almost always worked far more than that each day, such as now where I am working a 12 hour shift, and that is a night shift.  Again night shifts are something that I have gotten used to.

It is well known that a lot of shift workers have sleeping disorders, but that is because their system has trouble getting used to differing sleep patterns.  This article was only useless to those in that catchment group, whereas it was absolutely of no use whatsoever to everyone.

Now a lot of people reading this will think that I am maybe exaggerating the case, but let me put it this way.  For a period of three months I was getting home three times a week at ten o'clock in the morning after finishing work at 9 in the morning.  This meant that I would not get into bed until around half past ten in the morning.  The rest of the week when I was either getting in from work at 1 in the morning from a midnight finish the two shifts I did that pattern, or the two days I had off, it was nigh on impossible to get to sleep much before six or seven in the morning, and then that would entail me waking frequently.  That is because my system was used to getting to bed at 10.30 in the morning.  Trying to then force myself to get to bed even at midnight or later was still difficult, because by then my system was basically equal to everyone else's late afternoon.

Now looking at that, I can understand what I have put, but I'm not sure if everyone else would understand.  That is just the job that I am in, and it's my lot in life.  It's not a great job by any stretch of the imagination, but it just about pays the bills, which any other job I could go far wouldn't be able to afford.  The hours maketh the total income.

I basically think that if people really wanted to write something that would apply to everybody, then they ought to put more time into it, and look at how they study it from every angle, which would mean looking at people who work all of these different shifts, and then making suggestions for their way of life as well.

Now I'm not sure if that does make sense.  I'm sorry, I am tired.  I had more than two week's holiday and, after the first six days, my body clock was ready for sleeping at night again, and now here I am tired.

Thank you for reading, please have a lovely Sunday.  I will see the day at about 2 in the afternoon when I wake up after six hours sleep, and start to prepare myself for another long 12 hour night shift.

March 4 2012 (41 years, 3 months, and 7 days old)