h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Looks like I've got some catching up to do.

The last few weeks we've been on pretty heavy dosage sleeping tablets overnight. The schedulers didn't like it when we finally started sleeping the full seven hours, but the medics got the final say. It was just the accumulated stress of the orbital environment screwing with our sleep patterns. Up in that smelly container there's no sensible day-night cycle, we see many sunrises and sunsets in a 'day', and we can't cover all the windows. If you've ever dreamt you're falling, think about waking up and finding that you really are falling... falling continuously and never hitting the ground. That's what waking up in zero-G is like. You also tend to let yourself get dehydrated because no-one wants to wake up in the 'night' and use the suction toilet half-asleep! Then we get up and try to eat a breakfast that won't stay put.

It's strange though, for all that it sounds like a nightmare existence, at least we had each other to moan to, and now I'm Earthside I miss it intensely and can't wait to go back - once I'm fully recovered. Talking of recovery, I have to sleep now, gravity is still sucking the life out of me. I'll fill in the blanks of the last few weeks later.