It had just turned 4pm when I collapsed into my chair totally exhausted after what had been a more than demanding day many thanks to my darling wife...

    It had all started when a distant family member had visited our house a few days before to tell us that her daughter was getting married and could ‘Barry' please make some sponge cakes for them, on hearing them say this I had already started to get a bit worried as I know what my dear wife is like and never likes to say 'NO' and especially when it's family, but she consulted me first and asked, ‘What do you think, could you manage it' there then followed a long pause as I could sense the apprehension going through my brain, so I asked how many sponges cakes (thinking maybe it would be about 12 pieces) but nearly fell out of my chair when she said 600 individual decorated sponges, so I picked up pen, paper and calculator trying to fathom out the equation of how long it would take and would my body and mind be up to such an immense task of what was going to be a full two days work... after some deliberation I agreed to make the sponges yet uncertainty was ringing warning bells in my mind as I've not taken on a job like this for the past five and a half years... but in all honesty it wasn't just all the work I was thinking about as there were two dominant factors in my mind that made me say ‘Yes to the order' (1) was the financial profit I would make which would help immensely with this months medication costs, and (2) I new that if I succeeded in completing the job without any mishaps it would be an enormous boost to my motivation, adrenaline and self-esteem.

When I went of to bed that evening all the planning and production of what was ahead of me were still spinning round in my mind as I new the following day would be more than difficult and busy as it was also the last day of Ramadan (the Holy fasting Month) so my dear wife would also be busy in the kitchen cooking but I managed to quickly drift of into a peaceful sleep, only to be abruptly woken up again shaking in panic by the thunderous sound of fireworks being let of in the roadway by extremely excited children in eagerness of the Eid holiday that follows the end of Ramadan, the firework explosions went on and on and each time making me jump out of my skin causing me great anxiety, so I tried burying my head under the pillow but still the noises echoed through my mind, I looked at the clock and saw it was about 9pm and not long after that somehow I managed to go back into a now restless sleep...                        

    Sumi has since told me that my whole body was trembling, waving my arms around, and rambling in my fraught sleep... and apparently I woke up again at midnight although I did not realize then what the time was, but I got out of bed and got dressed went into the kitchen, made some coffee to try and get my brain into gear, then I decided now that I'm up and its so quiet with nothing to confuse me any further I might as well make a start on the sponge cakes and by the time the family woke up at 4am I had almost finished and thank goodness without any mishaps with the recipes or baking, the first step of making the sponges was perfect and by 6am I as back in bed content and sound asleep.