It seemed clear from the limited survey of our NWR group that there are’ morning people’ and ‘evening people’.
The morning people were more in abundance. Three of them did yoga at a minimum twice a week and one added in meditation and breathing exercises. They all seemed to get up between 5 to 7 am.
Cups of tea, predominately Earl or Lady Grey, in bed were an important part of the ritual except for one who was told by her mother if you’re well enough to eat and drink you’re well enough to get up and this has stuck with her throughout her life. Most banned media from the bedrooms until they were awake and again most liked to read in bed (probably with their cup of tea though that was not checked). The evening people hated noise or talking in the morning. They liked to ‘ come to’ slowly. One had to wash their face in cold water to waken up while another showered to get herself going. At least three were highly organised knowing their exact plans for the day. Only one seemed to watch morning TV and one listened to the radio. Two of us got our brains going by doing puzzles like wordle or word searches over breakfast.
Nighttime rituals varied as much. Some ate early, by 6, others ate late by 8. Summer activities involved gardening, sewing, knitting, with one member out at least 3 to 4 evenings every week and another playing euchre once a week and another doing an online quiz with friends. TV didn’t seem that important unless it was for a specific programme or just ‘bland programmes’ to unwind. Another had to make a list of the next days activities as in that way she could relax without thinking about what had to be done. The evening people were rarely asleep before midnight while the morning people were in bed by 10 to 10.30. Reading in bed was common but not universal. Most liked the windows open at night and one, who is not overlooked even had her curtains open. Dylan Thomas’s poem The Sunset was read. There is a lovely recording of it on YouTube sung by the Dunvant Male Voice Choir. It is also called Eli Jenkins Prayer
It was a lovely evening with laughing at some of our idiosyncratic traits and feeling relaxed and able to talk about what made us the persons we were.