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Cadwell NOT Caldwell
Morose
[3 minute read ]
At 4am today, I was awoken by my alarm clock. I think it is supposed to sound authoritative and stern or something, much like a sensible person with all their plans for the day already drawn up, but to me it sometimes seems cynical. It has a morose tone about it that hints at the repetitive nature of a series of days, months and years that have passed and will be played out again in the future.
Fortunately, the world around me doesn't agree with it. There is a nest of chicks, in the ivy, right outside my bedroom window. When I say right outside I mean four feet, or just over a metre, from my window. I suspected that there was one nearby because I kept hearing a bird alarm call, which I suspected was a shout at the other birds, namely jackdaws, to stay away. Sure enough, a coal-tit flits back and forth to be greeted by a chorus of cheeps. That hungry group is the second thing I heard today. I was surprised at how quickly their sound is deepening as they grow.
My alarm clock says, 'Wake up, there are important and mundane things to do today.' The young birds say, 'This is just the beginning of an adventure', and the parent looks at me and says, 'Keep away.' I am fairly certain that it knows I am not a threat, just like most birds know that people on bicycles are different to people who are not on bicycles. I think it is jerky movement that tells them there is a hazard to their lives.
Erratic and haphazard actions alarm most of us. If we notice a series of stops and starts, I think we get a little anxious. There seems to need to be a rhythm in my life that is sometimes absent and I start thinking, 'What's wrong?' Don't get me wrong; I am not seeking a banal and obscure existence in the recesses of society. Not for me to just walk to the village shop with my body on the lane and my head in a phone. Oh no, I kick myself down the lane irritated because I allowed my childhood myopia to be an obstacle to learning about the natural world around me. Lucky me to live in a village, eh? I have lived in cities across Western Europe as well and the vibrancy of those is incredibly stimulating. I regard Munich (München) as my second home. I think there is always a freshness to living in a city that is in a country that is not the country in which we went to school.
I am going to change my alarm clock and get one that sounds a bit more hopeful. 'Boop, boop, boop' needs to be 'Beep, beep, beep'. I don't want a responsible adult telling me to get up and wash behind my ears. I want an hedonistic hippy to wake me, saying, 'We might all get on a magic bus today and go to Greece, Coming?'