early mornings

Stockholm isn't a particulary early town on the outside. The people who are out and about before 10 am are mostly trying to get somewhere: to work, to their children's daycare to the shop. I hear that Swedes are early risers, but that they devote the wee hours to sipping coffee and poring over their daily newspaper.

I'm not a morning person. But having a toddler thrusts you into a life of twighlighty dawn. I sometimes wonder why the little one awakes when it's still dark and there is still a hush about the city. That's what has always kept me snug in my bed until the city begins to hum.

I once romanticised the notion of being among early risers. It was while I was living in Budapest. I had an early flight and my taxi passed the mini town square by my house by 5.30 am. It was abuzz with commerce and could easily have been confused for mid-morning rather than the daybreak. Shopkeepers were hawking, customers were haggling and the crowd that just hang around were already on duty. As the taxi carried on into the morning commute I realized that I already enjoyed this morning scene. At that time of my youth I often grazed past it; it was just the end of my day rather than the beginning.

I wish Stockholm had a livelier pulse in its morn now that I awake while the hip crowd slink home.