Bleary Eyed

Doors and windows

rattling and banging

windy sleepless night

Strange how your favourite sleeping position can become anything but comfortable when you’ve been awake for several hours despite tossing and turning and pummelling the pillow, waiting for that magic moment when sleep will once more wash over you and carry you away. Woke at 2am after two hours sleep, then again at 4am, and that was it, not a wink after that.

Came home from work yesterday and actually lit the fire, it was that cold. Spring has a way of calling on all the elements, mixing them up and throwing them at us full force as we approach another seasonal change. The wind picked up in the early evening after a wet, cold day, rolling off the mountain and roaring through the village. I guess we’re at the bottom end of the system that ripped through Adelaide, brought hailstorms to Melbourne, snow to the Victorian Alps, and a red dust storm through New South Wales which went as far as Sydney itself.

After watching many episodes of Grand Designs, I know for sure my house wouldn’t come anywhere near meeting the standards of an eco-friendly, passive cocoon that people like to create to minimise their dwelling’s carbon footprint. They bring out all the gizmos to measure how much air escapes around doors, windows and hidden gaps to determine the house’s credentials in terms of how much energy it will use for heating and cooling.

Well, last night, their little gauges would’ve spiked alarmingly at my place. When the wind is blasting at a great rate of knots from the south, straight off the Antarctic, it’s a tad cold. In similar circumstances in winter I’ve been known to hang a blanket on the inside of the front door, but when you see it billowing like a spinnaker you realise there’s not a lot more you can do to keep it out, other than lighting the fire and curling up in your chair with your blankie.

The internet tells me rain or showers are scheduled for the next six days and that the sun isn’t going to come out again until next Thursday. Huh, what does it know. As I sit here, the wind has died down somewhat, though it doesn’t look particularly cheery outside, but there is a smidgin of blue sky here and there. Aha, look at that, the sun just came out, for how long I don’t know, but after a wild and woolly night, it’s encouraging to say the least. All I have to do now is stay awake and make it through the next fourteen hours until I get home again, when hopefully I will drift blissfully away into dreamland.