Orangutangents

Silence is Golden - Shut up Brian!

I had a really weird, but rather lovely moment a couple of nights ago. As I lay in bed listening to the breathing of my wife drift into sleep, everything went still and calm, and I found myself lying in bed smiling into the darkness. 

Not that I'm unhappy normally, 'cos I'm not, and I tend to be a relatively settled person, but as we sleep with the window open all year, have pets, neighbours, live on the edge of the city, have an airport a few miles away, and I have the never ending static of Brian babbling on upstairs, it's rare that total peace hits me. 

But it did. And it was rather nice. Just for a few long seconds there was utter peace, and it was truly marvelous. 

It's usually pretty peaceful where we live to be fair, but even when it's quiet outside my mind is usually still running at full pelt and, as my family and colleagues will probably tell you, I tend to find it quite difficult to switch off. Usually as I lie in the dark waiting for the gentle bliss of slumber, Brian does something like this :

- right, this is what we need to get done tomorrow...

- ooh story idea

- did I lock the door? 

- do toucan's beaks change colour? 

- how long is a piece of string?

- why did Douglas Adams choose 42?

- bloody cat, shut up!

- why does Steve next door always shut his garage at exactly 1130pm?

- Mmm... toast...

and so on, also including whatever tune Brian seems to have stuck on continuous loop for the day (today of course it's Silence is Golden by The Tremeloes, someone ironic given that they're on a stage making noise). 

But, just for a brief moment the static of the world ceased and I felt like I was just floating gently in the warmth of my duvet. Given that I only remembered this the next morning when I stuck a piece of toast in my face, I can only assume I was right on the verge of drifting off to sleep. So, given the state of my memory, I thought I'd write this down while it's fresh in my head so that Brian can read this in a few years time and try and recreate it, particularly the memory of a nice piece of toast.

Message to you Brian: just occasionally shut the hell up and stop wondering about toast, life, the universe, and whether the bin needs to go out. Thank you.