Thread 7 - TalkLair: “In fact it’s an oblate spheroid”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 6).
The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with spring flowers. Inside, the hearth is glowing, pictures are up on the walls, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

Very sorry to hear about your friend, Brit.

Could 'Wednesday 11.20' in fact be 'Wednesday 1120'? In which case you clearly wanted to remind yourself about the Battle of Cutanda, or the deaths of Countess Matilda Fitzroy, Sir Ralph of Pont-Echanfray, Earl Richard d'Avranches and Duke William Adelin (25 November 1120 was not a good day for English nobility).

Ah, you know me so well, Bint! 😁

Spent the evening playing Pictionary which was a hoot. War nearly broke out with the other team. Snoop and I were mostly cordial until one round when she kept apologising and I was all "There's no need to be sorry, it's fine." We ran out of time and the answer had something to do with a bell. At that point I said, "You should be sorry, that was fucking shit!" I have never seen such a shit drawing of a bell in my life.

I've been awake since about 2:30am. What woke me up was the sudden thought that I forgot to put the paint roller away.

I painted the new bathroom walls a couple of days ago, washed the roller and tray at the outside tap and propped them against the fence to dry. And totally forgot about them, until 2:30am this morning, which obviously is not the time to stagger out into the dark in my dressing gown.

This kind of thing happens to me all the time - something trivial intrudes on my sleepy brain and leads to an inexorable rabbithole of worries, tasks, stresses, chores... in the end I give up trying to stay in my lovely warm bed and have to get up into the cold house.

@Kucinghitam that's rotten - and a very familiar pattern. FWIW, I have found that having a spare bed made up - even if it's a sofa - helps. I can then sneak out with my book and not disturb my angelica with my anxieties.

I actually spent an hour yesterday looking for a local therapist who might be able to help with the constant gnawing worrying (mostly about my children). I've realised that my mental state is becoming entirely dependent on how they are. It's ridiculous.

Last night was a horror show.

Oh my mad brain does that sort of stuff all the time. The worst was being on the Eurostar en route for a 10 day break and realising I had left an elderly and brown spotted apple on the kitchen side. I worried about for the whole journey.

Reader - I found said apple at the bottom of my travel bag when we arrived at our hotel where I had slipped it intending to put it in a bin at St Pancras and clearly forgot.

Obviously it was a waste of worrying as the very worst that could have happened would be coming back to a rotten apple and a few flies.

Stupid stupid brains.

I woke up a while back wondering what race horses do if they need a crap mid-race. Can they do it while running or do they miss a meal before the race to make sure it won't happen?

Sympathies @angelico53, sounds utterly rotten!

Hah at your resurfacing apple, @Ginmonkeyagain! Contrast with our holiday last summer (remember the heatwave?) when one of the DC did a "journey wee" just before we set off on a 3-week long-haul trip, and just as the coach set off for Heathrow, realised that she hadn't flushed the loo. Heck that was a grim thing to come home to.

Horses can poo while moving but it would really slow down it down mid-race. I imagine they’re so excited by the travel and the atmosphere that they’re all shitted out for that one-minute (or whatever) dash.

…and you wouldn’t feed a horse too close to a race or other event - you’re supposed to wait at least an hour after they’ve eaten even to plod around the lanes.

I really don’t like being an expert on horses but knowing so little about racing. Mainly ‘cos I hate racing, on every level.

Cows and sheep can cerrtainly poo mid journey - as anyone who has driven sheep or cows on foot for any length of time.

Cows, sheep, horses tc while walking certainly, bit I've never seen them do it at a run.

Sorry things are tough, Angelico. I hope you find someone who can help straighten out your thoughts.

I know they can crap while walking, the lanes here are a testimony to that, but was wondering about running.

I don't like horse racing either, Mavis. Don't even know why I was thinking about it, especially at 3am.

Horses often poo while showjumping.

the constant gnawing worrying

That sounds awful, angelico, I hope you can find help you talk through it all.

Thanks for the guitar details Angelico and sorry to hear about your problems. Did you sell it?

I take literally hours to get to sleep. Last night I know I was still awake at 3.45am, which is no fun. So shoulders and sympathies with fellow non-sleepers.

I sleep really well, unwakeable once asleep (always slept right through fire alarms when I lived in a nurses’ home), but I’m an owl, so usually go to bed around 4 or 5am. I was up at 09.00 this morning, that’s very early for me, would’ve gone back to bed after my bladder drove me downstairs (where the only bathroom/loo is, it’s a small house but a long circular route from bedroom to bathroom), but once I’d let the dogs out I was wide awake.

I have a downstairs bathroom too Mavis! My only consolation is it keeps me fit and saves me from bungalow legs!

I LONG for an en-suite, it’ll be top of my kist if/when I ever move house. (Airing cupboard second, room/plumbing for a dishwasher third.)

My friend, who gets up at least twice in the night to pee since having her child, often manages to go the whole night here without getting up, or gets up just once. I suspect she gets up at home because her loo is right there, she barely has to wake up to pee, and the thought of traipsing all the way through my stupid house gives her better bladder control.

I hear all of you on the subject of sleep. Anxiety about adult children is high on my list of things that banish sleep. Delay in actually getting to sleep is another, as is getting up to pee. I get what I describe as "monkey mind" where your brain scampers up and down pathways and replays things, like a monkey in a cage scampering around a framework of branches. At one time my doctor gave me an annual allowance of 30 Xanax, which was a brilliant medication for cutting out the monkey mind, so if I'd had a run of bad nights and was exhausted I could take one and guarantee a night's sleep. Limited in number because they're addictive and you don't want to get stuck with that. However, they're apparently not good for older people so my present doc canned that. I occasionally take diphenhydramine, but there is research linking that to dementia so obviously that's another one to be wary of.

I used to take Zopiclone but it gave me a horrible metallic taste in my mouth all the following day and often I felt woozie even tho I only took a tiny amount. I have Diazepam prescribed but only 2mgs and only ten every two months. I find them pretty much useless. Zopis work much better but I know they are addictive. What works for me, and this is bit of a confession, is codeine. I take 15s - ie 15mgs with 500mgs paracetamol. They seem to suit me well. I not only sleep but I sleep well and have lovely dreams. I once took a 5mg Diazepam and had horrible nightmares! YMMV but I seem to be well adapted to opiates! Not everyone is. They can make you feel sick.

At 67 I no longer care what I should or shouldn't do wrt insomnia. I am simply not prepared to put up with it any longer so I do what I have to do.

Oh yes, codeine does it for me too. I’m on it for sciatica, and bed is the most painful place to be, without codeine to knock me out.

I'm a bit like Mavis with sleep and once slept through a three car pile up right outside the house, where I slept in a front room. If I'm really fast asleep someone can shake me and still not wake me up.

Getting to sleep and/or waking in the night used to worry me until I read about pre-industrial sleep patterns and how it was normal to wake in the night and now it doesn't bother me. I just lie there and snuggle before eventually dropping off again.