5 am, and I've been up for a couple of hours already

One of the least fun bits of shifts is the way it messes up your sleep patterns.
Managed three and a bit hours last night, probably sleep on the plane south - something I didn't say, I'm down south forecasting for a week, the office is paying for the flights and the hire car down there.
This is part of the reason that if I'm off, even if I'm not on a night shift, I'll sleep in when I can. Ahh well, as my dad said while loading me with roofing felt to fit, "if you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined." And to be honest I like night shifts, hell, apart from the early starts on days and the disrupted sleep, I like shifts. Besides, it's like we used to say, "Sleep is for the weak, caffeine is for the strong!" or, as I put on a website, "Sleep patterns? Ha, I **** 'em!"
On the plus side, I got Sky a while back (Scotland and channel 5, and digital reception, just doesn't happen) and at the random times I'm watching TV, the knowledge package I got means that the Discovery channels and the like usually have something good on, or there's always the BBC news. Reminds me, Bill Bailey did this bit when I saw him in Cheltenham.

On a lighter few notes, joined Facebook, found a few more old friends blogs, and loads of old friends. Since I've moved up here I've found how important friends are, even if they're not sat infront of me, that they are there somewhere, be it down south, on the other side of the world or on the end of a phone line, makes the world so much a better place. Like Jo Burt said in a Mint Sauce strip (January 2003) -
"I look out into the dark and it just reflects the night inside,
and my friends ride through it with big bright lights."


And if any of my friends fancy a cheap holiday in one of the most beautiful parts of the country, I'm declaring an open house! If I'm in, everyone's welcome! I think I can fit about 7 people sleeping in the living room with inflatable beds for three, a sofa and a Thermarest.