What a Night

Midnight
I go to bed. There is a dog barking in the distance. I lie for a while trying to decide if I should close the window, but it’s far too hot. A new noise starts. People are shouting on the street outside the front of the house. And that dog is still barking.

3.30am
I wake up with Andy asking me to switch on the light. The cats have brought home a mouse and are playing with it on the landing. He gets up to put a stop to their game, the rules of which are to knock the mouse down the stairs, then race each other to see who can catch it again. Poor mouse.

6.30am
I wake up with cramp in both legs. I try to remain as relaxed as I can, slowly stretching out each leg. It gets worse. I roll over, and suddenly my side of the bed collapses! The slats under the mattress have slipped out of place. Ten minutes later the cramp has gone, but the bed still needs to be fixed. Andy has to fold the mattress back and hold it in place as I try to stack the slats back up again. The job finally done, we settle back down in the hope of a final hour or two of sleep.

Seconds later
I become aware of people shouting, this time at the back of the house, directly outside our window. It’s a large group of kids and it sounds like they have been out all night. Over time the group gradually disperses, but one particularly foul mouthed bloke remains. His words drift through our window and I wonder if, when the baby is born, we would be justified in calling the police?

7.50am
The alarm goes off. Time to get up. Urrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh. Three boys still remain outside. And then it hits me. When the baby is born I’ll probably be delighted with the amount of sleep I’ve just had!

Catherine