Things that go bump in the night

Yesterday I had one of those shockingly bad nights of sleep that the next morning leaves you feeling so drained that you just want to go to back to bed.

Reasons I couldn't sleep:

• We have a nest of baby birds in the eves, just outside our bedroom window - their scrambling, scratching and squeaking in the middle of the night would keep anyone awake (well, okay, just me)
• G's phone was beeping at random intervals from an undisclosed location
• It was so hot and humid in our bedroom
• Radio 4 was broadcasting programmes worth listening to
• Saturday night in Leyton is Going Out Night. But everyone is very young and trendy and they go out around midnight, so the street is suddenly full of taxis, teenage girls chatting on their mobiles and doors being slammed (its always very peaceful here on a Sunday morning though....)

I did finally get to sleep as the World Service started on the radio (that would send anyone to sleep frankly). But I was woken far too early this morning by shrieks of terror coming from the hens in the garden - a fox was sitting by their run fishing inside with a paw and gnawing on the door. And then corresponding shrieks of terror coming from C whose bedroom overlooks the garden. G and I grabbed dressing gowns and ran outside to chase away the fox (which then sat in the neighbours garden grinning at me - he just knew he had woken me up, the little sod).

All this made me think of one of my favourite poems, which is itself really a list:

Noises in the night

Why are men so good at sleeping?

Is it just the drink?

While we're tossing, turning, weeping,

Why are they so good at sleeping?

Snoring, whistling, grunting, beeping -

No one else can get a wink.

Why are men so good at sleeping?

Is it just the drink?

That is by Wendy Cope, from her book Serious Concerns which is great at making me laugh when I've had much less sleep than I need.