A night of restless sleep,now workmen upstairs

Good morning journal,the time is now 8:26am and after a night of restless sleep when I awakened several times,I am now at my desk with a mug of hot coffee trying to reassure our youngest dog Caesar that everything is okay as he can hear the party of workmen upstairs carrying out maintenance for the local council before they can lease the property to another tenant.It's a funny situation as our home is privately leased,at a higher rent I might add from a private landlord,yet the property upstairs is owned by the council,same building,two completely different owners.Here in Britain,especially in the North West of England where we live,properties are owned by private landlords who can basically charge what they like,with the other properties owned by the council who have to adhere to strict rent levels,they are cheaper but the waiting list for a council property is anything from ten to fifteen years such is the demand,so the private landlords have a field day while those people who cannot afford to buy their own home are stuck in the higher rental bracket simply because they have no choice,we,unfortunately,fall into such a group.When I think back to when I was younger and singing professionally,I could have bought a house several times over with the money I earned,but,as is usually the case when you are young,I figured that there was no rush and I had plenty of time,you can never imagine getting older when you are young,at least I couldn't,and when you suddenly find yourself becoming ill and unable to work through no fault of your own,that little bit of savings you had put by"for a rainy day"doesn't last as long as you thought it would.I had always said it made sense to rent because I moved around a lot when I was performing and doing gigs in various parts of the country,not to mention the gigs I did in Spain and Canada,so why buy a house when you were away for most of the year?,it seemed to make sense at the time,it is only now,with the benefit of hindsight,that I wish I had done things differently.The other concern I have now is what will the new neighbors be like?,the young man that lived upstairs when we moved in was a very likeable and well presented young fellow,he was respectful and polite,and he was very rarely there preferring to spend most of his time with his girlfriend at her home,an ideal neighbor really.In our previous two homes,we had neighbors who were less than ideal,and me,being the sort of man who does not find it easy to back down from anyone,got involved in some pretty angry disputes with two young men in particular,one from each of the two previous neighborhoods we lived in,one who used narcotics while both of them were also alcohol dependent.This state of affairs did not help my general health so I hope and pray fervently that whoever moves in and becomes our new neighbors will be pleasant and easy to get along with.Meanwhile this morning,Caesar is most unsettled and pacing the floor like an unhappy bear,he is not used to hearing noises from upstairs and to him it must seem like we have intruders,workmen tend to make a lot of noise and Caesar is responding likewise,barking and generally letting the guys upstairs know that he knows they are there,the other two dogs are older and are used to hearing sounds from somewhere other than in our home,so they aren't bothered in the least,but Caesar is very much still a puppy,a huge one it has to be said,but a puppy nonetheless,and to him it must seem that he is just doing his duty and protecting us.Anyway,hopefully it will only take a few days for the workmen to do whatever repairs and maintenance they have to do,until then,Caesar will just have to put up with the noise and disruption to his daily routine,it also means that he will be confined to the back garden for the time being along with his older sisters.As for me,I don't feel as sluggish this morning,the strong coffee has helped clear my head for which I'm grateful,and I am ready for the day ahead,let us pray that it will be a pleasant one,until next time journal,I have to go cuddle one very upset puppy,may peace and contentment walk with us till we meet again.