Wake up early, get more done?
I wake up early in the morning - usually between 5am and 6am, and long before anybody else. No idea why, I’ve been the same since I was young. But it does leave me with a challenge. What should someone do for two-three quiet hours every morning?
Typically I drink too much coffee, answer lots of emails, check what’s happening on a couple of forums etc and try to catch up on things I intended to do the day before. Happily there are always lots of these, so it is never a problem amusing myself, and I often get more achieved in those three hours than I do in the rest of the day.
But it does leave a nagging suspicion that I should be doing something more exciting than work at such an unearthly hour. Learn Japanese, teach myself to paint, chop some wood, or take up yoga perhaps?
An alternative is, well, not to wake up early. This is what Mrs B and the children and the rest of the world think is the sensible solution, but is harder to do than you would think. When I go to bed, as soon as I close my eyes I go to sleep - literally, within 60 seconds. While much of the rest of the world apparently tosses and turns and struggles to get to sleep, I have no such problem.
But as soon as I open my eyes again I’m completely awake, and can’t bear to just lie there stationary until a sensible hour.
‘Go back to sleep!’ they tell me. Well you might as well tell the sun to stop shining or suggest the children do their homework on a Friday night. It just isn’t going to happen. People sometimes ask me how they can wake up early - so they also can have time at home without the family, I suspect. Sorry, I have no suggestions, perhaps get an alarm clock, a smaller bladder, or a high-stress job?
Occasionally Mrs B switches my strong evening coffee for a cup of ginseng tea, thinking I won’t notice the difference. Strangely, I do. Other times she will suggest that I read a book before going to sleep. No good, as soon as I’m lying down, sleep is just moments away.
If I ever come and stay with you, don’t be alarmed at the strange noises you will hear in the middle of the night - that’s just me trying to get your computer turned on, or trying to unlock your door so I can go for an early morning stroll. Many is the time I have been caught rifling through my host’s pockets or handbag, and had to explain that I was just looking for a door key. I’m like a caged animal when I stay with other people and can’t get out of the house.
Anyway, what I’m looking for are creative suggestions for something I should do for a couple of hours every morning. If I am destined to forever wake early, I need a constructive hobby. Ideally one I can pursue in secret, so in a years time I can suddenly amaze the family by chatting in Greek or reciting extensive tracts from Shakespeare, or balancing a spoon on the end of my nose.
Any ideas?
get yourself some white face paints, and learn the art of mime. thats pretty silent! i would imagine that the death of Marcel Marceau left a gap in the market.
Take up drumming and get everyone else out of bed!
Try to make sense of French bureaucracy town hall style. I find this stops me going to sleep quickly-and when I do, eventually- I wake up late, and knackered. Best wishes from France Centre Bourges- where the powers of the City’s Architect would make the Gestapo blanch. John HF
PS Like the M Marceau idea - as I am sure would your more nervous gite guests.
Seeing as you obviously enjoy writing…why don’t you write a book….perhaps a diary of your life as an ex pat living in France….just a thought????
Or you could set up an internet website offering advise to us fed up English citizens who would jump at the chance of an opportunity to join you in a relaxed and beautiful country. I am sure you would have lots of tips and advise to offer?
Thanks for the suggestions…I’m not quite sure we’ve found the right one yet! I always fancied being a jazz drummer though.
There is a problem with the last two suggestions - I know it would be a good idea, and very useful, to get to grips with all the details of French law, tax and bureaucracy and share the information with the world. Problems are:
- it’s not really very interesting,
- it always changes,
- you find that the ‘correct’ answer depends a lot on which government official you happen to speak to and where you happen to live. This I think is why so many websites and forums are full of misinformation, and so few sites offer clear well thought out advice, not for lack of wanting to, but because it is just so hard to get to the bottom of many things!
Val, over the course of the last couple of years my specific intention has been to cover such matters, although it is perhaps hard to find the facts about the ramblings.
When we first came to France I started keeping a diary, with a view to writing a book, but then realised that lots of people do the same. More importantly, after a year or two of living in France life stops being so unusual. Everyday life in France is much the same as in the UK - shopping, schools, work etc and it is hard to find amusing anecdotes to write about al the time.
Hopefully one day someone will offer me lots of money to publish my blog highlights in a book!
Oops a comment longer than the post itself, that can’t be right…
“I’m like a caged animal when I stay with other people and can’t get out of the house.”
I too am an early riser, and ran into serious problems when rellies from New Zealand came to stay for two weeks. They were high maintenance, (no hire car, no plans) so I cherished that first couple of hours in the morning to make lists, myself presentableand work out the day’s itinerary - but I reckoned without the Kiwi farmer, who, accustomed to having to rise early, was unable to switch on hols. He would arrive in the kitchen while I was deep in thought, looking freshly scrubbed, lean and keen (wall to wall grin)
… and hungry!