…Off To Work I Go

It's back to the day job after ten glorious days of lie-ins. And though the alarm clock going off at 6am today was a shock to the system, it's probably just as well I get back into the habit of getting up early.

During my Christmas break, I get used to staying in bed until 10am. This time of year, it's dark by 3:30pm. You don't need to be a maths genius to figure out that isn't too many hours of daylight. And then I wonder why I start every year feeling depressed. I wonder how night shift workers cope with so many hours of prolonged darkness.

So it's not all bad to be back in the usual routine. I have no more excuses to slob around the house in my old sweat pants, eating chocolate and watching crap TV. It's time to start moving again. It's time to start thinking again. It's probably even time to cut back on the cakes and biscuits and go back to the exercise classes, but I haven't dared get on the scales yet to find out just how many of those mince pies are still with me.

How long will this new sense of optimism last? Probably until the snow returns. But at the moment, we're still several degrees above freezing here in London and – at least for this week – the trains are relatively quiet, because not everyone's back at work yet.

Next week might be different, but I'm trying to focus on the moment. By then, I might even be back into the habit of getting up early!