In praise of the early morning

After the bread round listens to early morning radio. First thing in the morning, when I am on my own, I concentrate on getting the dough’s right, on mixing the right amounts and getting the right quantities on the shelf to rise. When that is done and the sodas are in the oven, I sit down with a cup of tea and enjoy my break until the other baker arrives at 5.30 and we get to shaping and baking and chatting. The radio goes on and the day starts with RTE 1 rising time. A compromise with the second baker who would prefer Beat while I might prefer Newstalk. So we listen to a mix of music and news, of paper review and of something called “the living word”. Deep and meaningful and sometimes actually very good, she is totally dismissive, still living in a world where people “should just cop on” and I am wondering why everything with a bit of thought in it has to be read in this incredibly irritating, deep, meaningful and grindingly slow voice. Anyhow, today the topic – I think – was the depression of the early morning. At 4am, the slow vouce said, the world looks at its bleakest, thoughts are dark and the night is threatening. Surely, the voice said, the world is going to end some day at 4am . Now  I like 4 am and it is morning and not night to me. I start at 4 with the first light and the first cock crow in the summer and with a spectacular starry night in winter. I find the world at peace at 4am and have my best thoughts at coffee break at 5.15 am. I think the world is at its bleakest around midnight, after a long day, when a tired head thinks stupid thoughts and picks a fight where none was necessary. Late in the evening when yet another day is ending before the work is done,  is not the time to think or plan. I have learned to park all fears and worries that come to me at night and all decisions are deferred until the next morning when invariably the sun rises again and nothing ever looks as bleak. So cut the early morning some slack, get to bed early, get up at 4am and you’ll find a lovely world out there. Of course, playing with wonderful yeast doughs makes it all the better.