Don't You Just Hate It ...

... when you do everything right and what should result from this doesn't happen?

Yesterday evening I was having problems keeping my eyes open from about 8pm onwards. Not only that, but I was also yawning every couple of minutes. I thought that if I took my night-time medication then I would be able to go to bed and drop off to sleep almost immediately. I was wrong.

Medication was taken at 8.45, and the dose of my night-time medication is sufficient that it should be able to knock out an elephant. Into my jimjams and under the duvet, I rested my head on the pillow and waited for sleep to come. Half an hour later I was more awake than I had been when I had got out of bed yesterday morning.

I knew that I had to do something to help me get to sleep. I tried some knitting; that didn't work. I tried reading a book; all that happened was that my eyes became heavy but as soon as I put my head on the pillow I woke up again. Then I tried the thing that they say you shouldn't do; I started to watch television in bed. At midnight I was still awake with no apparent likelihood of sleep being imminent.

Trying to decide what to do next, I called up BBC iPlayer to catch up on things that I had missed. I wanted to watch the final episode of Series 4 of Doctor Who. So I called up the programme, laid back to watch it and promptly fell asleep. And I slept until the alarm woke me at 6am, to remind me that I needed to get up to get myself ready to head out for the day.

So much for my early night. So much for the medication that is supposed to be able to knock me out within an hour of me having taken it. Still, there is always tonight. Maybe I can get that elusive early night tonight. When I don't really need it.