How Do You Start Your Day?

I’m up early and it’s still dark; the very first glow of the day ahead is just creeping over the horizon. I enjoy the quiet time before the world gets up. On the farm you can get out and about, check the sheep and the cows on their ‘camps’ before they move out to start grazing for the day. You may chance across the baddies of the bush; a wild pig or fox, delayed in getting back to its hide-out before the sun gets up (at our expense no doubt).You can see the tracks left in the dew by kangaroos on their way to get a drink.

I can hear dogs, not ours, but a neighbours in the distance, sound travels much further in the cool and the quiet of the morning, and now I can hear a truck coming along the road, using its gears to pull its heavy load up the hill… it’s getting closer and now I can see its headlights as it pulls off the road. Before long I’m startled by an, “Oi, Butcher”, and I look up and see our freight has arrived. A meat carter’s grinning mug is looking at me through the glass of the butcher shop, beef on his back. I swing the door open and say “G’day” to two ladies walking past with their yapping (but no doubt beautiful) lap dogs.

I look around, not a kelpie in sight; I see no dewy grass, nor any kangaroos, just a big carpark for customers to park in. The meat carter pushes me out of the way, “Stop dreaming, you got work to do”, he says. We smile at each other as he passes, and I look into the back of his truck where I see plenty more to unload. I get that ‘Here we go again’ feeling that we all get from time to time, but I happily realise I do have the best of both worlds…