South Wales Evening Post column, November 08, 2024
BACK in July, I was a Bear. For some strange reason, in August, I became a Dolphin. This week, it turns out that I am now a Parrot. Confused? Please don’t lose any sleep over it. Leave the worrying to me. Here’s the explanation: as part of my cardiac rehab regime, I wear a fitness device on my wrist which monitors how many steps I take every day, how my heart is performing . . . and how well I sleep. When you get to my age, sleep is very important. Back in my teens and 20s, ‘pulling an all-nighter’ was an idiom which summed up those occasions when you needed to work or study through the night. Today, ‘pulling an all-nighter’ has a different meaning among the group of oldies I meet for a weekly coffee. A successful ‘all-nighter’ today is that glorious occasion when you manage to get seven straight hours in bed . . . without having to get up to go to the toilet! These are occasions as rare as hen’s teeth and need to be stamped in red on the software app that runs my fitness device....