Granted, a 4:30 am start is a far cry from 2:30 which is what my old life required, but it’s earlier than usual. And it has been a bit odd!
Tuesday: Awake through the night roughly every 45 minutes. Decide to give up at 4:15 and start the routine. Usual 24 hour Tims closed for renovations and the temporary replacement trailer looks closed. Mild panic. Remember other 24 hour Tims next to bus station downtown. Relax. Morning show goes by in a blink and I remember almost none of it!
Wednesday: Limos lined up outside the building as usual. One is empty. Its driver is inside the small back entrance, bowing to Mecca. It’s all good.
Thursday: The only day the alarm actually goes off. Walking from the parking lot I allow several steps to accumulate between me and a youngish looking guy in cargo pants whose many pockets look full of what are likely deadly weapons. Ninja stars, mace canisters, switchblade knives. He has long blond dreadlocks and seems unsure of which way to go. Crackheads are easily confused. He proceeds briskly and takes no notice of me at all. He doesn’t look back once and gives me no real reason for concern. I remember that American Idol runner-up Crystal Bowersox has long blond dreadlocks and she’s not dangerous, except as a threat to the music charts. He carries on across the street without looking back and has no interest in robbing/beating/berating/insulting me. I decide he’s probably on his way to an early morning volunteer job at his church.
Friday: Crossing the street against the light because there isn’t any traffic when a car at the next intersection guns it and seems to be speeding toward me. Wait – it IS speeding toward me! Even though it started a block away, it’s bearing down fast and I barely have time to skitter off the street to get out of its way! It’s a cop car. No siren, no lights, just super speed. Strange. Then I look up and notice the full moon hanging like a picture in the sky.
Next week, afternoons. Not as early and not likely as weird.
Hilarious! There’s a whole other world out there in the pre-dawn morning radio hours. I used to have to take a cab HALF a block from College Park to CKO (next to Maple Leaf Gdns) cause of guys slowing down to offer me a “ride”! (Guess I could have set my alarm earlier and augmented my income). Sleep well, sista.