As I sit here and eat my 9pm “breakfast” to Samuel Barber, I began to question conventional sleeping habits. Why is it set in stone that the working day begins at nine and ends at five? Why is it the day that should be observed and not the night? At what point did the world wake up and say that this is the way it should be? The budding young scientists might yell ‘genetics,’ and the religious would announce a passage from whatever religion that might be, and perhaps the open minded amongst us would point out that its both the environment and genetics combined that steers our behaviour, but both of these aspects would still require an origin; a point where a decision was made – conscious or not – that this was normal behaviour.

There’s a long history of ‘day’ activity, and even of the abuse of the night activity, ‘attacking when the enemy is asleep’ as it were, all the way back to many of the great works of literary fiction. The origins of almost every mythical demon and beast came out at night; from the vampires, werewolves, ghosts and ghouls to the less common tales such as that of the Kraken; a beast the size of a small island who would consume wayward ships at night before retreating to the cold depths of the ocean. But what’s perhaps even more intriguing, is if we travel backwards in time even further, to the mythical beasts of the ancient Mayan, Egyptian, or Greek society, the likes of Kukulcan, Quetzacoatl, Itzamna, Set, Anubis, Horus, Cerberus, Gorgon and Medusa, none are specifically associated as being creatures of the night.

So then why is that we have come to the decision that the day time is an adequate representation of good and that we should strive to explore it? To me, this feels counter-intuitive; in times gone by it is perhaps understandable for practical reasons, but in the world of electronic lighting and a coat permanently on your door it makes little sense. What man creates is often ugly. Sure, you can look at the Eiffel Tower and be struck by awe at how we’ve managed to build something that isn’t quite as ugly as what surrounds it, but take a look at some nature photographs – Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls, The Grand Canyon, The Vesuvius Volcano, the Dunes of the Sahara or the Peaks of the Great Mountains – and tell me how anything we have created can compare to the beauty found within nature. Man is Ugly, and the night hides that fact.

This was all sparked by my recent attack of insomnia, which resulted in my sleep patterns being thrown out by an almost perfect 12 hours – going to sleep around 10am and waking up again around 6pm – but the strangest thing is, it doesn’t feel unnatural. I know I’ve always had an affiliation for the night, happily walking through the city of New York and Rome (as well as London of course) in the middle of the night; the combination of the stars and the tranquility of silence has turned a tourist trap into something more. Most of the work I did for university occurred during the night hours, feeling more alert and able to focus between say, 9pm and 3am, than I ever was during the day.

And so, as I sit here contemplating the night, looking out the night sky, it is with a reluctance that I feel compelled to fit in with societies demands in order to survive within it. Now I must be excused as my coffee is getting cold.

- The Nocturnal Ferret