Forty winks!

Well, now I know the answer to my earlier question about whether I'd need an afternoon nap today after my disturbed night. I succumbed to a brief doze this afternoon.

I spent an exciting morning taking heavy bags of ceramic tiles to the municipal dump. I was the first person at the development site this morning, so I moved all the rubbish myself, carrying approximately twenty bags the 200 metres or so from the back door to my car. It doesn't sound far, does it? And, with two bags per trip, it doesn't sound like an excessive number of journeys. However, I did have to (re)pack several bags before removing them from the site, so the whole operation took approximately 40 minutes.

After that, I packed up a few more bags of rubbish, talked to the chimney sweep and discussed the positioning of the bathroom furniture with the project manager. I also tripped over rubble (three times) and fell down a hole in the floor (twice), but let's draw a veil across my clumsiness!

Next, I went to the dump. Luckily, the operatives there were extremely helpful and unloaded and unpacked most of the bags of ceramic tiles for me. Indeed, I think I moved three bags while they did the rest. They deserve a big, "Thank you!" because those bags were very heavy and full of broken ceramic tiles with sharp edges.

Returning home, I had to vacuum the inside of my car to remove bits of tile and rubble dust. It's longer than I care to remember since I cleaned the inside of my car, so this took quite a time... after which, I took the dogs for a walk, since they were obviously feeling much better than they had been at 04:00! I wasn't, needless to say...

After another trip to the development to view the progress on opening up the fireplace and to fall down the hole in the floor (again!), I came home and sat down for half an hour. The next thing I knew, it was dark outside; I must have drifted off while reading the newspaper and, though it was for only about thirty minutes, I definitely feel better for having taken a rest.

I am a bit disappointed that it was necessary to sleep, but I'm consoling myself with what a friend said yesterday, namely that I really shouldn't be worried if I still get tired occasionally - especially if I have good reason to be so. Surgery and radiotherapy are rather extreme interventions - I'm very grateful not to have had chemotherapy too - so I should expect to pause in my activity from time to time.

What I've learned from today, then, is that I mustn't be too proud to stop if I'm tired or to sleep if I need to; recovery takes time and I shouldn't expect to be able to do everything immediately.