Summer is here at last

Yes, the weather we dream about and desire all winter, at last seems to have arrived in Victoria. We woke up this morning to find the sun, (do you remember the sun?), shining brightly through our bedroom window and a soft warm breeze accompanying it. We’re very fortunate that our bedroom faces east, which is why we have the benefit of the early morning sunshine to cheer us up. At our advanced age, the morning can be a very uncomfortable time of day, as many other people can vouch. Despite a good night’s sleep, (only disturbed by the usual necessity of getting up at about four in the morning to go for a pee!),  and the numerous drugs we take to cure conditions we’d never heard of just a few years ago, the first half hour of the day is always a problem.

It seems that every joint and muscle in our bodies ache as if we’d been doing weight lifting all night, we can’t seem to stand up without something to hold on to, otherwise we’d fall back onto the bed, and anything we look at is distinctly blurred, (can something be distinct and blurred at the same time?). The wife and I look a right couple of idiots I can tell you, standing there, on each side of the bed, both of us trying to be the first one to manage to move anywhere.

This is a condition that is especially incommoding during the winter, when the bedroom is still dark at eight o’clock in the morning and the air is cold and damp enough to steam up the windows. We’ve usually kept the electric blanket on, on low all night, so our bodies don’t feel too bad at first, but the symptoms I’ve just mentioned kick in with a vengeance as soon as the bedclothes are thrown back; I have a theory that this is why so many older people stay in bed all morning, though luckily I haven’t had to do that myself as yet. What gets me is, why do we ache like this in the morning, when you’d think a night’s sleep would cure pain, not cause it!

That is why the early morning summer sunshine is so welcome! It arrives at between five and six o’clock in the morning, depending on which part of the season we’re experiencing and it means that, although we still get all the aches and pains of first getting up, at least the added inconvenience of severe cold air isn’t included.

At this time of the year I actually feel well enough to indulge in some exercise too, once I can get my legs moving a little. Nothing too vigorous of course, just a few knee bends of about twelve degrees, lifting my arms so that my fists are just about level with my eyes, and twisting from the hips, perhaps twenty degrees left and right of central! After all, I don’t want to injure myself; that could mean not sitting out in the yard all morning to gain the vitamin D my body requires, or not spending the afternoon at the Senior Citizens Club across the road. It could even mean that I have to go back to bed, which I would consider to be a defeat, so I can’t allow that!

Fortunately, I did manage the exercise regime without trouble this morning, so I am ready for a day of activity.

Except for one problem, that damned sun! It’s now getting so hot outside that we’ve had to pull the blinds down, turn the air conditioning on and spend most of the day watching the golf on the TV. Sometimes you just can’t win, can you!

Do you live in Victoria and have noticed the sun is here at last?