Thursday, June 26, 2008

“I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting” - Ronald Reagan



A cheeky little sleep during the day is hiiiiighly underrated. When doing a spot of work is London, pretending to be competent in the investment banking arena, I used to take it upon myself to shamelessly have a nap at lunch time. I say shamelessly as there is no point in trying to sneak a nap in. If you have a time allocated for lunch during your working day, it is more than appropriate that you refresh your body and mind with a bit of shut eye. If you can get around that unnecessary guilt you are doing well my friend.
So, well at ease with myself I just needed a location to lay my head down. Normally this would mean a trip out of the Old School Building in Blackfriars and a trip to Watersons Bookstore in winter, or St Paul's Cathedral in summer. That rose garden in St Paul's was something to behold in summer. All that pristinely tendered inviting green grass was packed. Builders and Suits alike would just plop down and in my case stretch out for a 20min nap. Wondrous I tell you.
Winter was a little trickier. The weather obviously wrote St Paul's out of the equation. I took turns between the Large bookstore and the public library. Can you picture it? I would read a book for ten minutes and then just pass out on a couch/sofa! Only once was a chastised in the Library. I think there was a strict policy of no sleepers in the library so that was fair enough but I genrally got my 20mins in anyway.
The bookstore was great. On the lower floor there were two very comfy leather chairs and a small sofa. I would normally not even last the 10 minute read here. Just a few minutes in and I would pass out in the warmth and cosiness of the place. I did have to get used to some strange sleeping positions, but that was not too difficult. When I mention this to people they are mostly afraid that if they were to take a siesta they would not wake up. It's actually pretty easy to be asleep for just a short while. All I do is make sure I tell myself I need to wake up in 15 or 20 mins and then that's what I do. Why should it not work? Your mind keeps ticking over when you are sleeping so when the time is up you stop sleeping, jump up and in my case head back to the world of investment banking.

Now I wonder if old Ronald Reagan ever actually grabbed some zzzz's when he was in charge of team USA. He and I were not unalike in our jobs actually. He was an actor pretending to know how to be a president. I was ... well perhaps not an actor but certainly pretending to be an investment banking type.

Feeling sleepy after reading this drivel? Take a nap why don't cha.

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