My alarm is normally set for 6:30am but, almost invariably, I make several uses of the snooze button before blearily crawling out of bed. Not going to bed too late helps but I still find myself wondering how I could be bright and awake at that time in the morning.

Earlier this week the alarm at church went off late one evening. I live close enough to hear it so went up to switch it off. It was a “phantom alarm”, with no sign of any cause. This morning, at about 5:45am, I thought I heard it again. I fumbled into my clothes and dragged myself up there again only to discover everything quiet and undisturbed, with not even a phantom to blame.

I came back home and had gone out to water some of the containers in the garden when I thought I heard the alarm again. It was back to the church – all quiet – and then home again. Returning to garden, I found I could hear an alarm; it must have been somewhere else, in the other direction, as it had been imperceptible from the church.

However, I did realise that the episode had revealed to me the secret of how to be bright and awake at 6:30am. It seems that all I need to do is get up before 6am and preferably do a bit of exercise like a short walk round the block! I think though that I should wait and see how I feel in my accustomed afternoon slump before I make any commitments to earlier rising!

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