The ‘the only thing that varies is the depth’ thread

[Beardy]

I’m always in trouble, the only thing that varies is the depth. Or so I’ve been heard to say in the past.

I’m a night owl, always have been. I don’t like morning. I’m retired. Sarah isn’t, on both counts. Sarah has been developing her technique for engaging me in conversation before midday , and now expects me to join her for tea at stupid -o’clock. She wakes me at 7:10 most mornings and if I haven’t risen in short order continues check on me until I have. When I do stagger down stairs I’m presented with tea, OJ and for the last week or so a bowl of porridge¹ So far so good. I am then engaged it small talk, discussions of national import, plans for the day and a myriad of family related topics. This morning’s topics included ‘what to get our D-in-L for her birthday (St Stephens Day), a decision on the former and a subsequent purchase².

I’m struggling to hold onto reality and am sitting quietly whereupon I glance at this slabblet. This illicit’s a grumpy reaction vis ‘you obviously don’t want to talk to me’ and a flounce. The answer is obviously NOT ‘no, I want to be abed³ and asleep but I’ve just engaged in conversation and decisions for the past hour and a half’ neither is it to point out that she is unable to ignore her work email notification on her phone. This is hard won knowledge born of nearly 40 years cohabitation. I forgot, that sitting quietly is also an unacceptable response.

1. Not that I’m ungrateful, but 10 o’clock is a much more acceptable hour to partake of breaking ones fast.
2. Purchase of Christmas has always been my responsibility and birthdays.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Thing is, us morning people are utterly convinced know that the so-called 'nite-owls' would be much healthier, smarter and happier if they'd wake up and get up early.

Correspondingly, we can't understand why the 'nite-owls' stay up to unhealthy hours, when any sensible person is asleep. It defies common sense!

[Jaded]

Mornings should be made illegal.

[ElyDave]

Mornings are the only time I can have without interruptions

[Polar Bear]

Dare I respond to this?  Would my life be worth living if I did?

You are a bad man Beardy.  😉  Get your running kit on and join me for 6km in 30 minutes.  👍

[ian]

I don't do mornings. My wife leaves me to it. Tbh, she's gradually segued towards my mode, though she's usually up at least an hour earlier.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Getting up before the sun has risen is not only unnatural, it is anti-natural.

[Wowbagger]

My dear wife is abed as I type. I took her a cup of tea a while back.

The trouble is that we both go to bed too late but I usually wake up by 8am and get up around 9am. I am therefore constantly tired.

I do sometimes manage a good nap in the afternoon.

[T42]

I like to be up by 7am. I'm usually fit to talk to around 11.

[tatanab]

Cripes - the day is half over!  I tend to get up by 06:00 and may well go out for an hour or so riding before breakfast.  Mind you, even 23:00 is considered a late night.  In my working years I liked to be in work at 06:00 for an 08:30 start so that I could do some work in peace.  Many years ago I had a girl friend who simply would not rise before 10:00 on a weekend.  That led to some  ------ disagreements.

[TimC]

I would love to be a morning person, but it just won't happen. Years of working through the night, and rarely starting before midday means that I'm at my best in the evening, and still up and about at 2 or 3am. I do enjoy getting up and getting a coffee around 8am, but then getting another couple of hours' sleep.

[ian]

One of the great things about WFH is that I never get up before 9 am (and even that is horridly early). My wife gets up at 8 am and that means one hour of having the bed to myself. OK, lie, that's one hour of battling the cats for crucial real estate. I hid under the covers this morning and Bad Cat literally sat on my head.

What is about early morning people where they have to tell you about it? And not just tell you about it, but season it with 'I was up at 5am and did a 10 km run...' or somesuch. Stop that. Us night owls don't go around telling people that we're were up till 5 am because we're were too busy drinking, having sex, and generally selling our souls to the Devil.

[davelodwig]

Cripes - the day is half over!  I tend to get up by 06:00 and may well go out for an hour or so riding before breakfast.  Mind you, even 23:00 is considered a late night.  In my working years I liked to be in work at 06:00 for an 08:30 start so that I could do some work in peace.  Many years ago I had a girl friend who simply would not rise before 10:00 on a weekend.  That led to some  ------ disagreements.

No the day isn't half over fill your boots if you want to get up in the dark and be "productive" but I'll be busy sleeping.

I don't work from home but even so generally won't get to the office until 10 and refuse all meetings before 10:30, why should the day be arranged for morning people when the buggers won't come to my 17:00 meeting because something, something tired from getting up early. The traffics nicer just after 9, the coffee shops are all open, it's daylight,  and just makes my winters more pleasant. And yeah it's dark when I go home but It would be dark anyway so I might as well have a daylight ride into the office.

[citoyen]

Beardy, I feel your pain - your situation sounds similar to mine, in that my wife likes 'a chat' first thing in the morning, while I'm still trying to wake up. Ugh!

And yet she gets annoyed if I want to talk to her after she has gone to bed at 8pm!

What can you do, eh?

[citoyen]

No the day isn't half over fill your boots if you want to get up in the dark and be "productive" but I'll be busy sleeping.

I like being up early in summer to take advantage of the light mornings, but we're in hibernation season now. Darkness is nature's way of telling you to stop being so damn busy and just focus on eating more carbs.

[L CC]

What is this "talking to each other" business?

I like to get up & at 'em. Unless I want to fester.

I make him a cup of tea through the week (a throwback from the days I used to leave the house) and he makes me coffee at the weekend.

I'd always rather get up early than go to bed late. And the traffic might quieten after 9, but that's still not as quiet as it is at 6. I don't believe the night owls are getting up to mischief and fun. They're missing out on the best hours of sleep: everyone's mum knows that an hour before midnight is worth two after.

[ElyDave]

The difficulty is being a hybrid, I'm naturally up around 5am, but I also like to go to sleep later than my wife, as late as midnight some days.

One thing she has never got is that when I get home late from a trip, I can't go straight to bed, I need to have a bit of down time to reset my brain etc.

[Kim]

What's wrong with "Don't talk to me I'm not awake"?  If people don't care whether your brain is functioning, then the conversation can't be that important, whatever your sleep cycle.

[rob]

I get up early a lot and am mostly knackered for several reasons.   I turn in around 10pm.

Junior has developed a habit of ignoring me all evening whilst on his laptop and then wanting to engage with be at 10:30.  He gets pretty short shrift.

[ian]

What is this "talking to each other" business?

I like to get up & at 'em. Unless I want to fester.

I make him a cup of tea through the week (a throwback from the days I used to leave the house) and he makes me coffee at the weekend.

I'd always rather get up early than go to bed late. And the traffic might quieten after 9, but that's still not as quiet as it is at 6. I don't believe the night owls are getting up to mischief and fun. They're missing out on the best hours of sleep: everyone's mum knows that an hour before midnight is worth two after.

I get better as the day goes on. I'm at my peak at about 2am. I'm astonishing. Unfortunately, there are no witnesses to my awe as everyone is asleep.

Alas, I never get coffee delivered or prepared. I have to rely on a robot coffee pot. Had I know about this marvellous machine earlier, I would have married it instead. Well, ok, it's not smart enough to climb the stairs.

I was taking to one my wife's friends the other week, she (and her husband) are usually in bed at 9.30 pm apparently. And asleep, not fucking. I asked because that's the only reason I'd be in bed at 9.30pm. These sort of questions are why she's my wife's friend and not mine.

In The Asbestos Palace, dinner service isn't until after 10 pm.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I like being up early in summer to take advantage of the light mornings, but we're in hibernation season now. Darkness is nature's way of telling you to stop being so damn busy and just focus on eating more carbs.

To the max.