Sleeping with your dreams

Sleeping with your Dreams ©

By Michael Casey

Sleep is good, its great even, especially if you’ve missed it, or not had good sleep in a while. Where does it all begin?  It begins as a child when we cuddle up with mum or dad and fall asleep on them, we don’t want to go to bed or we’ll miss something that Uncle Johnny from London might say. So we beg to stay up a while longer before we fall asleep and have to be carried upstairs to bed.

Years later we’ve inherited an old Bush radio and we are listening to the Book at Bedtime, it’s the Ghost and Mrs Muir, so we force ourselves to stay awake while the news and  Douglas Stewart Reporting is on, then we can hear the rest of the story. Only we fall asleep and you have to rely on your brother to explain what happened. That radio was my university for 20 years, BBC Radio 4, for a few years when I shared a bed with my brother listening to the radio and the Book at Bedtime was a night-time ritual before we went to sleep.

As you grow older your bedtime is one of choice, you chose for yourself, when you go to bed, however school and work then have a major influence on your sleeping patterns. Imagination also has an effect on your sleep, are you a light sleeper or a heavy one, and do you dream? I’m told I once sat bolt upright in my bed and shouted “Launch the Lifeboats” before falling back down and resuming my snoring deep sleep.

As a shift worker my sleep and my body has been ruined by the need to sleep during the day. I did 14 years of night shifts. 3 days 3 nights 3 off, 3 evenings 3 nights 3 off, 4 on 4 off were amongst the shift patterns I worked. 12 hour shifts too, so that all you wanted was to crawl into bed. When I was still at home my mum would give me breakfast before I’d go to sleep.

It takes a while to get used to daytime sleeping, and waking at 5pm and not knowing what day of the week it is. You have to spend a few minutes processing the fact that it was light when you went to bed and now it’s dark when you get up, everything is reversed. You also feel so tired all of the time, it’s not nature it’s not natural. When the days off come then you have to switch back to normal sleeping times, constant switching back and forth IS bad for your biology. I’m sure my own has been ruined by the years of high switching night shift patterns.

With all this going on you really appreciate your sleep, and you will spend good money on a mattress, I think I spent 200quid 20 years ago for a really good mattress, which is like 600 quid in today’s money. I’ve just bought a new mattress in fact from www.beds.co.uk  as I deserved it. A side effect of my heart bypass surgery is the fact that I’m still restricted as what positions I can sleep in, so I need a really good mattress to support my bulk.

With the mattress you need sheets and pillows, not to mention duvets. Only quality will do, especially if you are married as threadbare bed-ware does not impress the girls. You need soft sheets for the hard battles, to quote an ancient Peter Sellars’ film title. If you are comfy you will sleep soundly and be full of vim in the morning.

The worst shift pattern I ever did involved a 2.30am finish, start at 6pm and finish at 2.30am. I’d walk from the council house to the taxi stand and awaken my driver who then took me home. I’d have a snack before going to bed at about 4 am. There was one side effect of this crazy shift pattern. My wife conceived and we had our first daughter.

Going to bed at 4am really threw my body I slept for a very long time before dashing out at 5pm to catch the bus to work. I was offered a renewal of that contract but I decided my days of night shift working should finish. The night shifts had the last laugh though, because no matter what time I went to bed my body would not let me sleep till 4am, and it took 3 months before my body allowed me to go to sleep naturally.

So all kinds of everything have been my working hours and my bedtime has varied so much, so I really appreciate my Egyptian cotton sheets and my duck pillows, all I need is for my scars to heal so I can move freely instead of gingerly.

    

Its all in the stars written in june 1998

                       It’s All In The Stars 2016 ©

                         

                              By

                         Michael  Casey

          Louise  just  loved  to  read her stars  in  the  papers,  but

gradually  she  became disillusioned,  they were  too  inaccurate,  too

 

general,  she wanted more detail,  a personal touch, she wanted to know

 

how her life would be.  Not "you'll have a happy day today,  a  surprize

 

could be on its way." She wanted more, so she went to see a clairvoyant,

the  clairvoyant   was a gypsie who had pitched her caravan  in  the  Bull

 

Ring.  Louise happened to be there buying new knickers for herself outside

 

Saint  Martins  church when she spotted the sign saying "fortunes  told,

 

cheap prices, under a fiver to know your future. "

 

           So grasping her knickers in the carrier  she climbed  the  four

 

steps into the caravan.  The fortune teller looked like a rugby player in

 

drag,  but that’s normal for fortune tellers,  so Louise wasn't afraid.

 

She  had  30  mins before she had to get back to  Stats  and  some  report

 

writing  for  Derek  the boss.  The bells of  Saint  Martin  peeled,  a

 

lunchtime service was about to begin, as for Louise she held her breath,

 

what would the future bring ?

       Michael also wanted to know the future.  He read his stars avidly

 

in the papers,  he'd buy his shopping in Safeways, then once through the

 

checkout he'd read his stars in all the newspapers, before discarding the

 

papers  and leaving with just his shopping,  the papers in a heap at  his

 

feet. He always hoped the stars would tell him when he'd meet the love of

 

his life,  what he failed to notice was that while he had his head in the

 

newspaper,  pretty  women were standing right next to him  browsing  the

 

womens magazines. If only he looked up from the stars. 

 

           Fate would bring these two together, in fact they lived in the

 

same street, but their paths had never crossed, Michael lived at number

 

19  and Louise lived in number 25.  Michael had been a computer operator

 

for 20 years but when the job ended he took the first job that came along

 

, so now he was a security guard, not one of those thick ones in uniforms

 

,  no he was a guard in the new Travel lodge hotel on Broad street,  the

 

biggest hotel in the city.  He wore a suit and had a nice badge with  his

 

name  on  it,  and he had a nice slim radio.  So he was an  upper  class

 

security guard.  It was the perfect job for him because he liked  meeting

 

people and having a gossip.

           The fortune teller had told Louise,  that she'd meet  somebody

 

strong  and  reliable,  though perhaps a little  boring,  things  would

 

happen suddenly and she'd be swept off her feet.  Louise liked strong men

 

why  she'd  been to see the Chippendales four times,  so  she  smiled  to

 

herself as she left the caravan,  clutching her carrier of knickers.  The

 

months  passed  and still Louise hadn't found her Mr Reliable,  she  got

 

offers  of course,  she enjoyed strutting her stuff in pubs all over  the

 

Black Country her and her friend Mary.  Only the offers were always  from

 

men just past their sell  by date, men who would buy you a pint and a bag

 

of  chips and then want to feel more than your hips as she danced  to  70s

 

Glamrock.  So Louise said "Sod It !", as she slapped another man across

 

the face.  Why couldn't men be Gay without being Gay,  you know Gay  men

 

treated you like a lady and didn't grope. Just why couldn't one like that

 

turn up.

 

         Michael finished another 12 hour shift and was wandering  around

 

  his  flat  naked,  scratching his bum and drinking another 2  litres  of

 

  coca cola.  He switched the telly on and surfed teletext, his HiFi was

 

  on too playing Genesis,  he always read the news on all channels before

  

reading his stars on ITV channel 4, channel 5 and Sky. His whole working

 

life involved working odd hours with even odder people, so he'd never met

 

anybody  who would put up with his lifestyle. Now 40 was on the horizon,

 

was  he  clutching at straws hoping against hope by reading  his  stars  to

 

cheer himself up. Jo from the kitchen had given him a Xmas card saying "I

 

hope  the  girl of your dreams find you in 98 ",  and the year  was  half

 

over. Michael sighed, at least he could have a quiet cry while he watched

 

weepies  on  Sky and the other channels.  Little Women  was  perhaps  his

 

favourite film,  the ending where the Professor says he has empty hands

 

& he has nothing to give,  but the girl gave him her hands and said "now

 

they are full".  His own father had nothing when he met his mom, yet she

 

married him, and yet he married her and her false teeth,  and they went

 

on to have six children.  So Michael watched and wept, at least there

 

was refuge and solace in prayer, he had taken up regular prayer when he'd

 

read about Padre PIO, and when  his mother died, and to his surprize  his  faith  got

 

stronger.  But still he longed for company, to talk with, to laugh with, 

to cry with,  and to wake up with. So he prayed and read his stars in

 

equal doses.

 

        Louise slammed the door of her flat, and rearranged her  blouse,

that bastard had more hands than an octopus, he'd left his thumb print on

 

her boob too,  and the bra strap was broken too. She have to go down the

 

Bull Ring on Monday and get herself a new red bra, and new red  knickers

 

too, it was a matching set after all. She flicked on the telly, Central

 

Weekend was still on, Russell Grant was on,  so she didn't switch off.

 

He was saying that a proper reading involved study.  Louise examined her

 

bruised boob as he talked,  still listening she practised her  undressing

 

technique,  it'd been in Mary's Cosmo three months before, so she'd been

 

practicing it. Once she met a Gay man who wasn't Gay, he'd have the full

 

benefit of it,  it was all about pleasing him,  so to please yourself,

 

that's how Cosmo explained it.  So there she was naked before her telly

 

with just Russell Grant smiling at her,  "And it’s about  examining  your

 

potential and optimizing your best  bits ",  Louise was examining her  boob

 

again,  and her bum, she found another bruise there. So it was standing

 

naked before Russell Grant and a studio audience that she decided to do it

 

herself, she'd go to the library and dig out some books. She'd form her

 

own future, she'd caste her own fortune.

          Michael dried the tears from his eyes, and switched the tv off,

scratched  his bum,  then got into bed.  If only a millionairess would

 

stop at the hotel and fall in love with him,  well it  happened  in films

didn't it?  His stars had been contradictory as usual, so  he  just

 

believed the nice ones. Louise had  switched off the telly when she'd

 

glanced out of her window,  only to see a naked man get into bed. Michael

 

was afraid of the dark you see,  so he always left a chink in his curtain

 

and Louise by chance or was it fate ? She had seen him, he was fat and

 

very hairy, but at least he had a big chest, she just loved men with big

 

chests. So sniggering Louise headed for her own bed.

          The following Monday Louise dashed up to the Library and got as

 

many do it yourself Horoscopes books as she could find.  There were five

 

in fact. She'd read them all then photocopy the best bits on the  works

 

photocopier.  No more newspapers for her, she'd do it herself, she had

 

five minutes left of her lunch hour so she went and got a new matching bra

 

and knickers from the Bull Ring, and some grapes too,  she just  loved

 

grapes. Somebody was selling a telescope too, so on impulse she bought

 

that as well, it was only a fiver. She be able to gaze up at the stars.

          Michael had a nice day at the hotel, people seemed to like him,

well in five minute doses that is, a millionairess did stop at the hotel,

only she was a bitch, who knew she was rich and beautiful and intelligent

 

and she  wanted the whole world to know it.  If only she had a dose  of

 

humility that'd change her thought Michael, would  be perfect for this rich millionairess,

  a dose of humility was  a good  thing, but Michael smiled and carried all her shopping

 

and put it into a waiting taxi,  as she swore at him for not being  quick

 

enough. But his stars had said "You will be mixing with the  rich  and

 

famous", and so he was, by carrying her bags. 

 

 

             Louise dashed home with her carrier full of library books,

 

she'd know her future tonight, she was a bit impetuous at times, so she'd

 

work out her future tonight.  She saw the light go on in Michael's flat,

 

and  she did have a telescope,  so she gave into temptation and spied  on

 

him. e was nice,very nice, then she nearly dropped the telescope, he

 

had a horrid birthmark on his left shoulder, a brown stain all covered in

 

hair. He was a bit like the elephant man, Louise laughed, and then went

 

back to  her  books.  As for Michael he put the Disney channel on and

 

watched Beauty and the Beast,  he could empathise with the Beast,  he'd

 

been called a beast himself because of his birthmark,  girls had run away

 

from him because of it. They could put up with him being fat, but not the

 

birthmark as well, that was too much. So Michael watched Beauty and the

 

Beast and cried and cried, some say a man should not cry, but  Michael

 

knew that was bollocks, it was good to be in touch with your emotions, a

 

good cry  cleanses  then system. Recently he'd  started  listening  to

 

Classic FM,  cos one of the cleaners had told him about it, and that made

 

him cry too, how could just a few violins and so forth touch your soul in

 

seconds. But it was nice, besides they'd never be anybody there to see

 

him cry, so he could be true to his soul, and cry and cry.

 

         Louise looked up from her books, she'd spent five hours reading

 

the future was hers,  she picked up the telescope again,  this time  to

 

look for Uranus, but the sky had clouded over. So she watched Michael's

 

bum as he got into bed.  Louise spent weeks reading and watching naked Michael

she even went  to West Bromwich library in search of books, she was confident,

she knew she’d always be ok for money,  and that was all that mattered as far as

she was concerned,  so long as she could pay the bloody mortgage and could  feed

 

her cat Sam.  One night Mary couldn't come on the razzle, strutting her

 

stuff with Louise, and as Louise had a bit of a cold she stayed in  and

 

watched the telly.  Elephant Man was on, the music was good, but Louise

 

hated the black and white,  and was going to switch it off,  but it  was

 

compelling in a horrible sort of way.  As she watched she looked out the

 

window and could see naked Michael, she laughed, then looked back at the

 

Elephant Man, then she laughed "Elephant Man lives over the road, Sam",

then the music touched her, she felt guilty,  a silent tear fell. She

 

couldn't bear her guilt so she got up and switched the telly  off,  she

 

didn't  have a remote control. She put Heart FM on loud to cheer herself

 

up, but her eyes were drawn over the road towards Michael's back, so she

 

picked  up the telescope.  "It's not that bad I suppose, if I were  his

 

girlfriend I'd shave it." Then she dropped the telescope, and  reached

 

for  her chocolate, and soon forgot him, Heart FM was great.

         Hazel had the flu, so would anybody like tickets to see Phantom

 

of The Opera. So as it was free Louise had it, she liked classical music

 

too as well as glam rock, so it would be a night out for her and Mary.

The Phantom was great, a bit like Disney's Beauty and the Beast really or

 

even the  Hunchback Of Notre Dame,  about  love  crossing  insurmountable

 

barriers.  Michael had once said to his mom, that he wasn't good enough

 

for anybody,  and his mother had chided that of course he  was,  Love

 

Conquers All was her message. And so was the message of Phantom. Louise

 

ate her chips on the bench outside the Hippodrome,  her mind troubled,

 

Mary thought  she was a bit quiet.  Louise lied and said she  was  only

 

tired.  But once home she got her telescope out and watched Michael's back

 

as  she played the CD of the show that she'd bought. Guilt  overcame  her

 

and she cried, she cried just like a little girl.

               Now sometimes fate cannot wait no longer it bursts on the

 

scene, it  demands attention.  Louise was returning the books to  the

 

library, she had just bought more knickers from the  Bull Ring. It was

while she was crossing the road at the top of Hill Street that she  nearly

 

walked under a bus, had it not been for a strong hand pulling at her bra

 

strap she would have been dead.  "Pervert" was on her lip, as she fell

 

backwards but the noise and shadow of the bus drown her words.

"I could have been killed," she stuttered, as she got to her feet.

"That's why I grabbed you, your bra strap was what saved you," replied

 

Michael.

Louise looked up to see who had saved her, she looked deep into his eyes

 

,his child like eyes.  She screamed and fainted, he caught her in his

 

strong arms. A full minute later she opened her eyes.

"But it’s  you,  I've never seen you with your clothes  on,  "  stammered

 

Louise.

"Pardon? " replied Michael not knowing her guilt secret.

"You see,  we are neighbours in Miracle Road Qangleton,  "  explained

 

Louise.

"Here's your knickers," replied Michael as he picked up her carrier and

 

it’s spilled contents.

"But, you  saved my life,  " said Louise,  before smothering  him  in

 

kisses, he had saved her life after all.

"Let's go for a coffee in Dunkin Donuts," suggested Michael "you  have

 

had a shock after all.

        And so that was how they finally met, it was all in the stars, I

 

think they went on to have twelve children and lived happily ever after,

 

you get a lot of family allowance with twelve children after all.

 

  **********************************************

 

4 years later I did work in a hotel