Wait? What??

As my sister can attest (from every time we've shared a hotel room), I'm one of those people who does not fall asleep with the TV on.  I can't sleep with the TV on.  I'm all about silence and darkness.  Hell, I've often had to get out of bed to (delicately) kick the Roomba, because its recharger is buzzing and keeping me awake.

But, I do lie in bed and watch TV a bit before falling asleep.  This is especially true since the cat has gotten into the habit of getting pet during this time.  I get ready for bed, jump in bed, put the remote within reach, snuggle under the covers (often with a little heaty thing under the blankets) ... and then Jasmine comes bounding in, wanting to get pet.  I don't actually have to do much here.  Just keep my hand at cat-height, and she rubs herself against me in various directions.  A self-petting cat, basically.  But when she's done, she'll leave and go sleep someplace else.  Sometimes, she will curl up, leaning her head on my hand -- and I think, "Oh, she's going to sleep here" -- but she won't.  She's just hanging out until she thinks I'm asleep -- and once my eyes are safely closed, she's off.  Then I turn off the TV, roll over, and get some sleep.

Except that last night, somewhere the plan went awry.  I was really tired and kept drifting off while the cat was doing her petting routine, and the TV didn't get turned off. 

The TV is on BBC America.  At 1:00 a.m., they run two episodes of Bargain Hunt.  Followed by two episodes of Cash in the Attic.  Both are similar in that they involve experts telling you how much antiques are worth -- then they end up at an auction where you find out how much people will actually pay for the antiques in question.  As shows to fall asleep to, they aren't bad -- listening to folks drone on about the Victorian Writing Desk or the Tunbridge Ware or Tea Caddy (and how do I know what all these things are?) or the ever-increasing numbers coming from the auctioneer -- that's all pretty good dozing-off stuff.  But at 3:00 a.m., if you happen to be up THAT late, you get the actual BBC News.  (Which makes sense, as it's 11:00 a.m. in London by then, so they've got actual news.)

Which might explain why last night I could've sworn I heard something about Fidel Castro getting forty quidfor some nice brass candlesticks.