Sleepless in Pune
It's 3:12 am here in India, and I have finally given up trying to sleep. I cannot believe just how many things have been conspiring against me getting some shut eye tonight. I mean, really, you couldn't make this s*** up.
Firstly, the hotel bar/restaurant was playing pretty loud music this evening as I was settling down to bed, but as this was still only about 10:30 pm, I was pretty unconcerned. After all, it is a Saturday night and just because I'm not a party animal at the moment doesn't mean I'm unreasonable! I must have been on the verge of drifting off to sleep when Clem had another bout of the tummy troubles that have been plaguing him the last few days (which is what will happen if you eat at the work cafeteria against other people's advice!) Anyway, I digress.
Clem managed to settle back to sleep pretty easily, but this is when I began to anxiously worry and plan the logistics of our move into the apartment in a week or two. Tossing and turning, I suddenly became aware of a series of quiet beeping noises. I was just on the verge of getting up to investigate when they stopped. I huffed, beat the pillow into a more comfy shape, rolled over and determined to go to sleep. Except that about 15 minutes later the beeps started again. And then stopped. And then started. And then stopped. Aaarrgggh. It was like slow torture. Eventually, I got up and tiptoed around the apartment waiting for them to start again. It would appear that the blasted dishwasher in the hotel suite likes to let you know when it's finished so you can unload it. Nice. Except that we put the stupid thing on overnight with the expectation that we would empty it in the morning!!
Beeps sorted, I headed back to bed. More tossing and turning; more anxious worrying. And then the bloody train starts up in the distance. Now in the UK and US, I'm pretty sure there are laws about noise levels at night with restrictions on things like trains, and especially train whistles, between certain hours. Well, not here in India. Constant whistling and honking for about 5 minutes as the train passed through town.
By this point, I was getting cross. So I resorted to trying to meditate my way to calm sleep using a trick my mum taught me where you systematically focus on parts of your body relaxing, working your way from toe to the top of your head. It usually works. But not tonight.
I'm not sure if there's a nightclub I didn't know about attached to this hotel, or whether someone was having a birthday party nearby, but at about 2:30 am the world and his wife decided to sit outside our balcony honking the horn on their cars. It sounded like rush hour on 42nd street in New York. People shouting at each other, car horns blaring, the local feral dogs barking, and motorbikes revving their engines. It was at this point that I gave up (again) and got up. I couldn't believe it, so after a few minutes of goggling through the curtains, I decided to grab my phone and record it. To be honest, the worst of it had passed by the time I captured it on film, but you can get the idea from the video below.
Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to relax enough to go to sleep now, especially after sitting at my laptop for the last half hour, but I'm going to give it a try. The beeping has (mostly) stopped (for now), it's 3:44 am, and I'm signing out.
Sleepless in Pune. x
Firstly, the hotel bar/restaurant was playing pretty loud music this evening as I was settling down to bed, but as this was still only about 10:30 pm, I was pretty unconcerned. After all, it is a Saturday night and just because I'm not a party animal at the moment doesn't mean I'm unreasonable! I must have been on the verge of drifting off to sleep when Clem had another bout of the tummy troubles that have been plaguing him the last few days (which is what will happen if you eat at the work cafeteria against other people's advice!) Anyway, I digress.
Clem managed to settle back to sleep pretty easily, but this is when I began to anxiously worry and plan the logistics of our move into the apartment in a week or two. Tossing and turning, I suddenly became aware of a series of quiet beeping noises. I was just on the verge of getting up to investigate when they stopped. I huffed, beat the pillow into a more comfy shape, rolled over and determined to go to sleep. Except that about 15 minutes later the beeps started again. And then stopped. And then started. And then stopped. Aaarrgggh. It was like slow torture. Eventually, I got up and tiptoed around the apartment waiting for them to start again. It would appear that the blasted dishwasher in the hotel suite likes to let you know when it's finished so you can unload it. Nice. Except that we put the stupid thing on overnight with the expectation that we would empty it in the morning!!
Beeps sorted, I headed back to bed. More tossing and turning; more anxious worrying. And then the bloody train starts up in the distance. Now in the UK and US, I'm pretty sure there are laws about noise levels at night with restrictions on things like trains, and especially train whistles, between certain hours. Well, not here in India. Constant whistling and honking for about 5 minutes as the train passed through town.
By this point, I was getting cross. So I resorted to trying to meditate my way to calm sleep using a trick my mum taught me where you systematically focus on parts of your body relaxing, working your way from toe to the top of your head. It usually works. But not tonight.
I'm not sure if there's a nightclub I didn't know about attached to this hotel, or whether someone was having a birthday party nearby, but at about 2:30 am the world and his wife decided to sit outside our balcony honking the horn on their cars. It sounded like rush hour on 42nd street in New York. People shouting at each other, car horns blaring, the local feral dogs barking, and motorbikes revving their engines. It was at this point that I gave up (again) and got up. I couldn't believe it, so after a few minutes of goggling through the curtains, I decided to grab my phone and record it. To be honest, the worst of it had passed by the time I captured it on film, but you can get the idea from the video below.
Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to relax enough to go to sleep now, especially after sitting at my laptop for the last half hour, but I'm going to give it a try. The beeping has (mostly) stopped (for now), it's 3:44 am, and I'm signing out.
Sleepless in Pune. x
Pune: Where the party people party hardy.
ReplyDeleteBah humbug! Lol!
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