Dear LPG,

During the summer when the days are long, and the nights are short I find it a lot easier to fill them with gardening and getting out of the house,  but even at the height of a summer, when we are wishing for it to get a bit cooler,  we have a habit of forgetting what it is like during our English winter.  

When there is little else to do in the evenings and the dark nights have a habit of forcing us elders to spend so much more time at home, life can become even more challenging especially if we live alone.   I think that one of the most common pastimes for people like me is falling asleep in front of our supposedly favourite television program and then deciding to turn in only to find that we then can’t sleep during the night. 

I find that starting a new project at about this time of year is a good idea.  It can be something as simple as finding a  new television series that you want to watch from start to finish (even if you have to watch the same episode again and again to be sure of having seen all the important bits).  Learning or making something new (perhaps something that involves working with wool or material for the ladies or something that involves wood for the gentlemen amongst us) also helps.  Make use of your communication tools.  The telephone gives the perfect excuse to keep up with friends on a more regular basis, or the computer has many ways of helping you to catch up with friends in warmer places if you know how, and there is a lot you can learn about your mobile phone while you have time on your hands.  One of my favourite things to do is just browsing the internet which is how I found this website, and for me, writing letters like this one also give purpose to one’s life.

While I am on the subject of internet surfing I would like to ask LPG to share some information that I found on the subject of getting a good night’s sleep which I hope might help too.

It is true that we English always appear to wish for the weather that we don’t have, and the minute it arrives we complain and talk about all the advantages of being subject to the effects of that of the other extreme

IO, Charlton. 

IO passed on some information that may be of interest.

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