It’s 7:00 AM and pitch black outside. Autumn has officially arrived in Bolton, and the flat is completely quiet. Even Mojo and Blobette were still sound asleep on their perches when I walked into the lounge this morning. Once they woke up and had their breakfast, Blobette decided it was time for a full-on morning spa session in the water dish. After all that vigorous splashing and preening, both of them are completely exhausted and back up on their top perch, puffed up and dozing off to dry their feathers. It’s funny how watching two little birds go about their morning routine sets a nice, calm pace for the rest of the day.
Looking around the quiet flat this morning got me thinking about how different blogging was back in the early 2000s. Back then, there was zero pressure to drive traffic, optimize titles, or appease some mysterious social media algorithm. It was just dumping raw, unfiltered thoughts onto a page, sharing tiny daily observations, and seeing who happened to stumble by and leave a comment. I might even dig through the Wayback Machine one of these days to see if my old site from back then is still archived somewhere in the depths of the web. It would be a laugh to see what I was rambling on about twenty-odd years ago.
Speaking of routines, I’ve been making a real effort to reset my space. Over the past couple of days, I’ve vacuum-sealed all my summer gear—blankets, shorts, the lot—and stashed the bedding box under the bed. The comic boxes have been rearranged so the room actually looks organised, and I finally hung my canvas photo of Manchester on the bedroom wall. It’s amazing what a difference a bit of order makes to your head. I was thinking about sorting through my clothes next, but I held off for now.
The reason for holding off on the wardrobe clear-out is that my body is still changing. Two months ago, I was sitting at 143kg. Today, I’m down to 120kg. Seeing that number steadily drop toward my 100kg goal feels huge. I’m shifting my food cutoff to 7:00 PM now—not for any fancy health trend or reason, but just so I actually wake up with a genuine appetite for breakfast. Re-learning the difference between real hunger and eating out of habit or routine is an ongoing project, but seeing 20kg vanish makes it feel worth sticking with.
Do you notice your routine shifting as the mornings get darker, or do you stick to the exact same schedule year-round?
