Tired is an understatement

We live in a fairly quiet neighbourhood of Larnaka.

But that means that when it isn't quiet, for whatever reason, it's hard to sleep.

It's been a busy and enjoyable week. Last night, Richard and Tim worked on the recording Tim had made in the morning, to mix the sound and sort out problems, so that Tim could make a CD for his friends. I spent a quiet evening catching up with email and Facebook and so on, and then went to bed about 10pm. I read for half an hour, and then fell asleep.

So far so good.

I woke shortly after Richard got in bed, some hours later. It must have been about half-past two; I tend to have four-hour sleep cycles, and he said it was shortly after two when he got to bed. Not that he'd been working all that time, but he was reading a good book, and wasn't tired.

I was dozing off when the dustmen arrived. I hadn't expected them at all, since today is Good Friday in the Eastern church, and a public holiday in Cyprus. They usually come on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in our district, but I'd quite resigned myself to having no rubbish collection until next Wednesday, since of course Sunday is Eastern Easter, so Monday will be another public holiday. So part of me was glad to know that they had come. Another part of me wished they hadn't come quite so early, and that they didn't make so much noise. Cyprus dustmen are very, very noisy. They do a great job, but they don't do it quietly.

Eventually I heard the dustcart drive away. I was about to sleep again, when I heard fireworks. Ah yes. I had forgotten about fireworks throughout the Easter weekend. I believe it's midnight on Easter morning when they are officially set off. Perhaps also midnight on Good Friday; I don't remember. But in recent years, they seem to be set off at random times over the whole holiday weekend. I'm sure I must have slept for at least a few minutes, but I counted at least fifteen separate fireworks - or firecrackers, perhaps - during those wakeful hours.

Finally there was a long pause. Perhaps, I thought, everyone had finally gone to bed. I was just drifting off to sleep when ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ sounded around my head. A mosquito. When the weather in Cyprus starts to get warmer, the mosquitoes appear. Not malarial, and we don't even feel the biting any more. But they are extremely irritating in the middle of the night.

I think I caught it eventually. I also must have fallen asleep despite at least two hours of wakefulness, because suddenly it was early morning daylight, and Sophia was walking over me miaowing at the top of her voice, informing me that it was time to get up. It was quarter past six. Considerably better than quarter past five, which is when she was waking me before we put the clocks forward a couple of weeks ago, but I really wished I could have slept longer than six fifteen.

However, once it's light I can't sleep. So I got up. I had a coffee after lunch in the hope that it will keep me awake until around 9.30pm tonight. I really don't like being this tired. I find myself forgetting words, and losing track of what I'm saying or why I've gone into a room.

I hope there aren't too many firecrackers or mosquitoes tonight. At least the dustmen shouldn't come...