SIX AM

More often than not our day begins before dawn even has the chance to peek over the horizon.  We beat the birds to their dawn chorus and have had breakfast by the time most peoples alarm clocks go off.  Although there's usually a lot of eye rubbing (mine) and quiet cursing after calculating the number of hours sleep we've had, it's impossible not to share Ayana's enthusiasm as she greets us with a toothy grin and a shriek.  It also makes it surprisingly easy to stay in your pajamas for half the morning (and on the odd occasion until lunchtime).  That may sound like a luxury but it doesn't give you the most productive start to the day, not to mention the constant fear that somebody might knock on the door and catch you in such a disheveled state!

Over the past week we've been getting up, throwing some clothes on and heading straight to the beach instead. I expected that it would just be us and a few lonesome seagulls, but my goodness there's a whole 6AM crowd down there.  Muscular men in tight winter wetsuits march into the frigid water, seniors in small groups power across the sand as if to walk away their old age, dogs stop to greet their friends with eager bum sniffing and tail wagging, even the bus driver sits on the steps feeding crusts to an ever growing gang of ducks.  And here's what really gets me, the earlier you go the friendlier everybody is.  Every person you pass greets you with an enthusiastic 'hello and how about this beautiful weather!'.  They're smiling broadly and the feeling is contagious.   It's like we have this little secret that the rest of the sleeping population don't know about.  They don't get to see the radiant sunrises, or fill their lungs with those first bursts of the days sea breeze, and they just don't know how serene the world is before the cogs of daily life jump into action again.

It's a special time for Ayana and I too.  We stop to watch every dog that passes, she shrieks in delight when one comes to greet her, we sit in the sand and feel it run between our fingers, we play in the deserted playground (although she'd much prefer it full of children) and by the time we get home we're both ready for a nap.  It's just nice to have this quiet time together away from the distractions of housework, cellphones, errands etc.
What's that saying? If you can't beat em, join em.  So there we go, we've joined the 6AM club and I think we'll try and stay a member all summer long.
xx