Vintage technology

Today I had a pleasant surprise. I have a communications receiver made by the Pye Radio Works; it is of a model associated with the latter days of WWII and, by the measurement units of old British people, weighs around two stone. I connected it to the electrical supply, plugged headphones in, waited for the vacuum tubes to warm up, pushed my finger into the antenna jack, turned the knob a bit and heard BBC Radio Scotland. It still works, which is pleasing indeed.

Despite this success I do not plan to push my luck by also powering and operating the Friden electro-mechanical calculator, entertaining though it is to watch it performing division. It would be nice to find it a good home.

Last night's insomnia

Unusually I had considerable insomnia last night: I awoke after 3h and did not sleep well thereafter. I did get up for a little while and drank some water. I had a slow start at work but got through the day okay. I have taken things fairly easy^* this evening and hope to sleep rather better tonight.

While awake I did lie in bed quite a lot: I was sleepy enough to remain there without being too restless and mostly with my eyes closed. I suspect that I did manage to nap because time did pass reasonably quickly and I would occasionally have the increasingly strange thoughts that feel as if my dreaming machinery is starting up before I lose consciousness. As I lay there thinking I wondered, is it advantageous to still lie relaxed in bed if sleep is not coming? Is it quite recuperative or actually little better than just coming downstairs, making a cup of tea and watching some television?

^*Why isn't it easily?