Early to rise
While my summer was languid - I’d stay up all hours and wake up barely in time to get to work by 9 - there’s something about winter that makes me want to get up before dawn.
Although the sudden early nightfall gets to me at first, I enjoy the dark peace of 5 am on a December morning. The streets are quieter; the cold air feels more still. Almost everyone is asleep but me, which makes me feel like I’m part of some dreamworld.
Not every morning is a joy to get up. In fact hardly any are. But once I’m awake and drinking my coffee, that serene feeling returns. My neighbors are quiet; only a few cars pass outside.
The subway population is different too. From 8 to 10, it’s basically office folk crammed together like illegal immigrants in a van, but before 7 it’s construction workers, maintenance men, cadets going to the police academy in Gramercy Park, and me, unshowered and disheveled, on my way to burn off the weekend’s pig out. While there are only occasionally empty seats, the cars are always roomy, and calmer with everyone dozing or in their pre-caffeine zones.
Of course on the weekends I like to sleep in, but waking up when the sun is already shining and my neighbors are walking around, I feel like I’ve missed something. Maybe I should try for the crazy early rising on Saturdays and Sundays as well.
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I have had to do a lot of traveling recently, and I have had to wake up REAL early (4:30 or 5:00) a few times the last month, and you are right…. There is a certain serenity in the winter mornings that you just don’t get any other time of the year. Very peaceful and relaxing.
I go to work with the construction workers and so on at 6AM in the morning. It really is THE way to travel by subway.
Because my dog has gotten used to my weekly work schedule, I’m now forced into something similar even on the weekends - except on the rare occasions I can convince him to sleep in for an extra couple of hours.
It’s amazing what you can get done in NYC on the weekends all before 9AM.