When I am healthy and sleeping well, I like to go to bed early and get up early. This would mean a six a.m. rise and a ten p.m. beddy-bye time. When I lived in Malta for awhile years ago, I went to bed at nine and was up at four. Valletta, where I lived, was quiet at night and noisy in the early morning. Sometimes, I need only six hours of sleep. I use to go on five. I was hyper-active.
If I am doing a lot of physical labour, I need more rest. I need eight hours.
However, since I have moved to the big city of Dublin, I have had to change my habits.
The afternoon is drop-dead quiet, but starting at 10 p.m. or slightly later, noise starts. I live in a building of flats, and the noisiest part of the day is from 10 p.m. until 3 a.m.. It is half past midnight, and there are several young people in the hallway, talking, which happens daily. Someone is moving out of a flat below me. There are parties outside. Cars and people go to and fro. Daily, a dog barks until his master comes home. Taxis drop people off, pick people up.
The city does not die down as one would expect, as there is an ebb and flow of noise. Someone told me before I came that Dublin rolls up at five in the late afternoon. That is not true of this neighbourhood, Also, almost daily, a large helicopter flies in and out of the down-town near my building. . It may be connected to the government, or a hospital. Sometimes, it makes many flights, back and forth about midnight.
 |
| Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, 1942 |
But, even in the country, far away from here, in a tiny village where two of my friends live, the pubs stay open until 3 a.m. I have witnessed this, as I stayed with my friends for two weeks last year, and they live next to the pub. I can tell you that the most popular song in the teeny-tiny village is American Pie by Don McLean .
Maybe the Celts are night people. I am a day person. Apparently, night owls are smarter. Supertradson is a night owl.
Check out these studies http://thedailyneuron.com/night-owls-are-smarter/
and here http://www.careerealism.com/night-owls-early-birds/ These two studies noted that night owls are more successful. One noted that poets are night owls. I am a day person poet.
However, the Madrid study noted that day people are happier. We do not have to go to the pub at night and sing sad songs about the past....
But, my habits have changed, and I am beginning to become a night person. This is a recent development.
I may have to take regular naps. I have never napped. Never. I do not come from napping genes. When my son was a baby, he never napped. My mother did not believe me until we visited my family when son was five months old. She was amazed. "Your son never naps," she said. I had told her that over the phone, but she had to witness this fact. I took the baby to the doctor. "He never naps," I said. The doctor replied, "Oh, you just have one like that. He is probably highly intelligent and does not want to miss out on anything."
My cats napped.
Actually, I miss the American Night Hawks which are evening and early night birds. They mark the beginning of summer. They eat nasty flying insects and make amazing calls as well as sounds with their wings.
Well, I may have to learn how to nap in the quiet afternoons on a daily basis.
UPDATE: People below are still moving out and it is 1:19 a.m.. Night-flight, perhaps?