get up when my alarm clock goes off

• set the alarm to go off a bit later
• lay out all my clothes the night before so I don’t lie in bed wondering what on earth I’m going to wear
• set the alarm to play something I hate
• have a task ready for when I wake up so I get on and do it
• remember that if I get up at 6.15am I can get washed without it interfering with Katie’s shower

I’m still a bit naughty about this still—the nights have been very hot, so I haven’t been sleeping so well. But sometimes a boring or unpleasant story on the news makes me leap into action.

I have been bad at this the last week.

The weather has been awful, so I don’t look forward to getting up.

And I’ve had a boring sociology book to proofread—working on it is meant to be one of the things I should be doing. But I don’t feel inclined, preferring instead to lie a-bed… What a waste of time! Perhaps I should only ever do things that I really like doing early in the morning.

I haven’t been so successful at this recently—I’ve been up late, so I suppose I make up the hours at the end of the day. But I do find that having to rush in the morning means that things like cleaning and tidying don’t get done. This makes the flat unpleasant to be in; which makes me more likely to go out in the evening and stay out late.

This morning I woke up a moment before the alarm. I was up within 10 minutes and found time to:

Do a load of washing
Make breakfast
Make lunch
Apply for internet banking
Investigate a random medical charge
Check 43 things
Check my e-mail
Drink a second pot of tea
Iron a shirt
Write a postcard to a little boy I met in Malawi
Eat breakfast

Made lunch
Scanned in some pictures
Ate breakfast
Helped a friend in a crisis
Walked round the park
Voted in the local elections
Walked along the Pantiles
Bought some magazines
Sat on the Pantiles
Was late for work

This morning I got up at 6.27 - three minutes before the alarm. It’s getting lighter earlier here - I reckon that helps.

I also set the alarm to a radio station that I hate.

I had to wash my hair, so the thought of being late catapaulted me out of bed. Even with the hairwashing, I had a whole hour to do whatever I wanted. I:

• Scanned in three strips of negative
• Read one of my favourite illustrated books very slowly
• Ate my breakfast without trying to do anything else at the same time
• Ignored the washing up
• Thought carefully about what I wanted to wear rather than just throwing on the first clothes I could grab
• Walked to the cashpoint
• Posted an Amazon rental DVD

My alarm goes off at 6.30am. I lie in bed getting cross with the news for AN HOUR. I don’t enjoy this.

If I got up: I could linger over breakfast, read a little, write some stories, catch up on Three Beautiful Things and do some housework, listen to some music…