That Kettle’s Cry in the Morning

It’s time we flip the kettle’s switch, pour ourselves a cuppa, and spend a moment on dawn’s approach to think about what goes on with our morning routines…

That First Climb Out of Bed

Inside the dark bedroom, competing with the low hum of the cooling air-conditioning is some deep breathing. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Nestled on the softest pillows a woman sleeps.

Until a large loud screeching noise blurts through the air, ripping her away from her dream world, and into the morning sounds of a screaming alarm. But it’s not just one clock—but three!

Does she bound out of bed, ready to greet the day, slipping on her gym shoes to pound the pavements in her suburb?

Or, she’s a mother stumbling in her socks to make breakfast for kids to get them to school. She’ll make lunches, while processing her list of chores for the day ahead, rarely taking a moment for herself except to have her coffee in the silence.

That first Eye-Cracking Moment

They say there is an art to waking up that starts with your morning routine…

Is it a ritual? Or is it an addiction created out of habit?

Yet, to reach for the stimulant in that first-morning coffee or tea is a universal habit for billions of people.

No offence if you’re a tea drinker, but the rich aroma of coffee filtering through the air is a very seductive wake-up aroma. It’s as good as the scent of bread baking at dawn on a frosty morning.

Or do you wake up to the sounds of a flushing toilet as your sinuses cringe at the awful septic smell?

Worse, you could be hiding under your pillow from the yodelling cries of a thousand banshees strangling some song in the shower.

Or you have your pet cat tapping your face at four in the morning to let them outside. So you stumble down the hall, stubbing your toe on the corner of the kitchen cupboard, spilling dry cat food across the floor that is worse than stepping on Leggo–and now you’re wide awake!

The Rooster Calls

In the country, roosters are always crowing before dawn, it’s a well-known fact that they’re never on time.

But it’s also that time of the morning when the farmer slips on their boots and head out the backdoor. Wiping the sleep from their eyes, they’ll hike across the paddock to the shed, flick on its lights, and open the gate where the cows are waiting to be milked.

It could be a cattle station’s camp’s breakfast-cook crossing the red dirt to beat the dawn that stretches across the outback’s endless horizon. Or, it’s the fisherman off to catch that worm before dawn who sneaks out the house to not wake the wife.

Perhaps, you’re trying to drain the last of the milk from the carton to make your coffee while eyeing off the toaster about to burn the bread, again. This is done while the rest of the family are crowding the kitchen, performing their own morning mumbling routines.

It’s the same routine performed daily. A repeated process, so well practised, that we don’t even think about it but just do.

Encountering the Kettle on the Counter

How many of us reach for the kettle on their kitchen counter first thing?

Is that kettle all shiny and new? Or is it scarred black metal from being scrubbed with age, that it wobbles, chugs, and wines to whir into gear to boil water?

Or do you revert to cooking’s 101 age-tested processes of putting a pot of water to boil on the stove? Or you have a coffee maker like many do these days.

How Powerless was the Kettle?

Looking briefly under the lid of this contraption, the kettle’s name itself came from an old Norse word for cauldron. The kettle is also the most ancient kitchen item that still does the same thing—boil water! And, it’s been performing this task since the morning of civilisation from around 350 BC.

From such humble beginnings, it then graduated to the fancy kettles for tea ceremonies in England, Japan, and China. All doing the same thing, but different.

Kettles also shifted from being made from iron to copper, silver, or ceramics, when metal was short for the wars.

They invented the annoying whistling kettle in London just after WWI before it graduated to the mighty sucker of power in the 1890s.

It took years for them to perfect this first automatic kettle without killing anyone. Which it did!

How?

It was a manufacturer’s error. They didn’t have a kill-switch (Ha!) in the earlier models, where the kettle would boil dry. So when they went to turn it off, it’d electrocute them.

That was until Russel Hobbs created the first automatic electric kettle in 1955 that was a must-have item through the ’60s.

Today, electric kettles are the most common kitchen item in Australia and Europe. Yet, it’s a rarity in US suburban homes where they prefer the stovetop or microwave to boil their water, as most have coffee makers.

Slamming on that Snooze Fest

Before you crack an eyelid on the sunny side of sunrise

(Tweet this)

Before you crack an eyelid on the sunny side of sunrise, do you hit that snooze button again… and again.. and again?

It’s more common than you think, and I’m betting we’ve all done it at least once (maybe more) in our lifetime.

But they say it’s bad.

Why?

The experts say that every time you hit that snooze button, you confuse your brain to go back to the sleep routine, never fully waking up and making you sluggish for the day.

Hey, someone allows you a day off right?

The Experts’ Recommendations on Rude Awakenings

They say its good to get up out of bed the same time every day. (Dunno about you, but I like my sleep in as a reward once a week.)

Keep the dream alive: Hit the Snooze button. Quote from the blog about morning rituals by Mel A ROWE

Time To Rise And Shine On The Morning’s Work

Many entrepreneurs are up before dawn doing stuff. They bound out of bed to begin their day with vigour, sipping that coffee and ticking off their to-list with gusto.

“Every morning I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America. If I’m not there, I go to work.”

Robert Orben

Breaking Up Breakfast

Who hasn’t heard it’s the most powerful meal of the day, it’s the fuel for the body?

There are many who indulge in power meetings over breakfast, there are wedding breakfasts, and many couples even break-up on that infamous morning after.

But I’m not talking about being that early bird that catches the word-of-the-day, I’m talking about … Food.

Do you skip breakfast completely, or blend up a power juice?

What about wacking out the WeetBix and souping up a bowl of milk?

Or do you hit that toaster hoping it doesn’t burn the bread and set off the fire alarms, again?

Someone said breakfast is for champions (I think that’s a breakfast cereal slogan?) and there are trillions of types of foods to fit this morning group.

The Dawning Dance of Distraction.

As I’d mentioned earlier, scanning over the to-do list first thing, is all part of goal setting. The experts say our willpower is at its peak first the morning and why many recommend exercising that time of the day before they get distracted with the day’s events.

Besides, the over-sweet Morning Shows where television hosts smile as they share the horrors on the morning news, the number one morning distraction is reading emails. Emails can totally screw with your day, making you change your plans, and instantly firing up stress-factors that mix with your morning coffee. They recommend you don’t do it.

Come on, how many of us look at Instagram to see who is today’s Morning-star?

However, scrolling can be useful too. We’re able to retain more information in the morning. It’s a great time to enjoy watching YouTube for Photoshop tips, or for that ten-minute meditation time using your new smartphone app.

Your melodic playlist may liven the background as part of your morning ritual. Along with the motions of sipping coffee, eating breakfast, showering, and tackling the morning traffic it’s all part of the process for fighting your way to the office.

The Morning of Superstitions

Should you be reading this over your morning coffee, here are a few distractive reasons why most people not only hate Monday Mornings, but some morning superstitions to ponder over instead of reading your tea leaves…

The Pot Calling The Kettle Black

This is an idiom from the 17th century about blaming each other when both parties are guilty.

They also say it’s bad luck to let the kettle boil dry. Which I’ve mentioned earlier on this true fact of many dying from electrocution when the first models of the electric kettle did boil dry.

And then there’s…

♥ To leave the lid off the kettle is to invite a stranger to bring you some bad news.

♥ On Christmas Eve, between 11 and 12 o’clock, all single girls removed their clothes and stuck their heads into the kitchen kettle to watch the bubbling water. They do this to wish for marriage… (Umm, this was a long long long long time ago, right?)

♥ A watched kettle never boils! (Huh? Might try that.)

♥ They say a slow-boiling kettle is bewitched and may contain a toad! (Ewwww.)

Getting Out Of Bed On The Wrong Side.

This saying apparently started with the Ancient Egyptians who believed getting out of bed on the left side brought death and destruction.

Yet, some of today’s casinos design their rooms specifically so guests find luck when they get up on the left side of the bed and hit the wall (ha!).

Another saying is: to have a good day ahead is to leave the same side of the bed you climbed into.

Do You Dare Resist A-Rest

(Just couldn’t resist the title!)

You never tire of sleeping! Right?

It’s been a long day, you’re exhausted, and your bed is calling you…

Do you collapse into the pillow and hug it like an old friend, exhausted, and with one eye open, you set the alarm to kill the snooze-fest?

Or you read a novel until you can’t read anymore, but you only have one more chapter to finish because you can’t put that book down. You can always hit the snooze button in the morning, right?

The Dawning Cycle Starts Again….

However you start your day, it’s your routine. It’s your bed. Your day, your dreams, and your goals. Not everything they recommend is suitable. Besides, if we did everything they told us (I dare you NOT to Google this topic) we’d never sleep—we’d be zombies trying to fit it all in.

Whatever it is, it’s a lifestyle habit of choice. Yours.

Okay, go on, Google the experts on this topic of best morning rituals–but not because I told you too.

Wrecking the Routine

As a writer, I do my best writing in the morning before the household wakes.

I’ve also tried many ways to test a morning routine to improve my day. I’ve worked night shifts, hospitality shifts coming home on dawn, on farms working in fields while watching the sunrise… so, I’ve tried plenty of ways to ruin my morning routine.

Don’t worry, I won’t bore you with the details. Believe me, they’re not copied by the superpowers of this planet (although I should be googling them myself.)

But I do test the morning routines of my characters!

In AVOIDING THE PITY PARTY, our heroine eats on the run, literally. After doing her morning run, she’ll snatch up her coffee and a muffin to eat in the car on her way to work. Until she meets Sean, a man who challenges her to reassess her morning routines, in a good way. Maybe?

In WINTER’S WALK, our heroine likes to walk every morning and tries her best to avoid her irritating neighbour, no matter how good-looking he is.

In A STRANGERS STORM, our heroine receives a marriage proposal over breakfast, by a complete stranger. Yep. You read that right. Psst, this one’s free to read.

In THE FOOTBALL WHISPERER, it’s a story about a famous AFL football player who gets severely injured, shattering his whole morning routine that he can’t even sleep in his own bed! Why? You can find out while reading in bed. Your welcome.

In UNPLANNED PARTY, we have a party planner’s routine that involves listening to her whining archaic kettle clunk and groan in the background. She’s showered, dressed, had her breakfast, checked her emails, and narrowed down her to-do list–all before that damned kettle has boiled. But when it’s finished wailing like a choked bird on her kitchen counter, she makes her coffee, sips on her cup, and all is perfect with the world. Heading out the door, prepared for the best day ahead, that is soon turned upside down! I’m sure you can relate to that.

The ART of DUST is the first in the outback Elsie Creek Series where they all have their own unique rituals in a truly unique environment.

No matter the morning ritual, it’s as unique as you are.

So, are you a morning person with the perfect morning routine?