Up before dawn this morning- couldn't sleep, worried, and an aching tooth. Amazing being in a city just as the light is coming up. I could hear the chimes of Big Ben striking 4am drifting down the Thames. A lonely bus pulled into the terminal, picked up a solitary worker and pulled off. A police car screamed by, sirens blaring, closely followed by an ambulance. A group of seagulls wheeled and screetched their wake-up calls, quite mysterious shapes silhouetted in the lightening sky. I looked down on empty offices with lights dimmed, and, unaware that I was watching, a cleaner started to vacuum. The air actually smelt fresh and clean and cool, in contrast to how it generally smells later in the day. Then the sun started to rise, miraculously sending rays which transformed the roof tops and office windows, making them glimmer and shimmer--- the city was coming alive at the start of another day-- The general low rumble that is a constant accompaniment to life in London grew louder, the bridge got busier, and my toothache got worse, so I'm off to the dentist. But you know, I miss the early morning sounds of childhood, being an old romantic-- that clink of the milk bottles, the delivery of the newspaper through the letterbox-- shall we ever have that again -? Only, I fear, if we were to move out of Central London---so you can't have everything and it WAS a rather magical time at 4am this morning---