Early bird
I’ve been up since about 5.15. It’s just before 6 am now.
I didn’t choose to get me up at this time but Little Miss L fell asleep in the car on the way home last night so I kind of knew this was coming.
I’ve always been an early riser, which is strange considering what a lazy bastard I am. I did a paper round when I was a young teen, getting up at 5 am every day, picking up my papers, putting them in letterboxes then going home again to get ready for school. In summer it was fantastic: shorts & t-shirt weather but still the coolest part of the day so you actually seemed to feel some kind of relief from the heat in what was a fucking hot place to be in summer.
In winter, it was a killer. Actually, early spring was worse: there would be early morning frosts and sub-zero temperatures. I wore fingerless gloves so I’d have the dexterity to fold the papers and put them in letterboxes but it also meant that by the time I finished the round, I couldn’t feel my fingertips. I remember mum half-filling a sink with hot water and me sticking my hands in that for five minutes when I got home.
Later though, after I finished doing it, I would sleep in till 8.40 and still get to school for 9. I hate to think how late I slept on weekends but I can remember doing the close shift at my local burgerworld, staying up till 6 am watching rage, then sleeping till 2 pm.
Me? Lazy? Noohhhhhh…
My next early incarnation was when I took up lifeguarding and would have to start work at the pool at six. A bit older by this stage, I had started to appreciate what a fantastic time of the day this is. There’s a calmness in the dawn you don’t get at sunset. Everything just seems so still and quiet and most people don’t come out of their houses till around 8. Well, I don’t like to get all sentimental about it but that time of day… it’s just so fucking peaceful it makes you feel good to be alive.
Now I get up early because of screaming kids. Usually it sucks. There’s a 4 am get-a-bottle-and-stick-it-in-their-screaming-mouth call which totally fucks up your sleeping pattern. Then you’re already behind when the alarm goes off and it can be hard to catch up again. But last night there were no interruptions so Miss L coming in at 5, meant I could wake up slowly then do some watering in the garden and just enjoy some extra time.
And now my alarm is just about to go off so I have to get up now.
