Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Early Riser

I find that the older I get, the earlier I wake up. I have always been an early bird rather than a night owl but it is getting worse. Usually I am awake and up (because I cannot stay in bed!) by 6am. Here in deepest rural France it is very dark at 6am, currently I think sunrise is around 7.45am.

I was just letting the dog out and opening the shutters when I heard the 7am carillon from the church bells here in the village and it struck me that I have already done the following:

Re-set and re-lit the fire

Hung up the overnight wash (indoors as more rain/damp is forecast)

Swept through to get rid of all the firewood mess and dog hairs, a daily if not twice daily chore

Checked my emails

Made the first cup of tea of the day

Oh yes....and written this blog

Is this sad or industrious?

I mentioned in my last post I have started on the bedroom and here are some photos of my progress:
The before shot, lots of mud and dust everywhere








The during shot. I love the look of the stone in this state but due to structural, cleanliness and insulation reasons we have to point it. That will be a learning curve for us so stand by for the after photos. The brick on the chimney is not very attractive so we are going to render that to give some contrast.


The rest of my day shapes up as follows:

Shower, dress, breakfast, walk dog, post Christmas cards, drive to next village for bread, maybe pop into neighbour on way back for coffee, then back upstairs to carry on painting the bedroom.

5 comments:

auntiegwen said...

Definitely industrious

Diane said...

I also sleep less now than I used to, but as I worked in racing stables when I was younger I have always been an early riser. I find though I sleep better in France than in the UK. The shutters make it darker and the hamlet, despite the farmers with their tractors out early, is a lot quiter than our noisy neighbours in the UK!! Diane

softinthehead said...

AG - LOL yes I thought so too by the time I had finished the post )

Diane - I did find that I slept better when I was here on vacation but now I am settled in, back to the early mornings. Still it means I can fit a lot into a day!

Maggie May said...

You are as bad as my husband! He cannot lie in. Although I seem to wake up at 5 am every morning for some reason, I do eventually go back to sleep and then have trouble getting up at 7am. So maybe your way is best.
I love that cosy fireplace!
Maggie X

Nuts in May

Irene said...

I wake up early as a rule too and find it difficult to sleep in. I didn't realize that I could blame that on my advancing age, but it's good that I can. Now I will point that out to people. You're making great progress. What a hard worker you are!