the city at night

As most of my loyal readers know, there are only two ways to get me to see the sunrise. A, an armed stranger bursts into my room, forces me out of bed at gunpoint and drags me outside, or B, I stay up all night. You should probably know at this point that the sun starts coming up now about 3:45 in the morning, so when I say I've been up to see the sunrise the past two nights, it's not really that much of an accomplishment. Not like, say, seeing the sunrise in Alaska...in December. But I digress. These past few nights have been spent in the company of friends, happily arguing the finer points of modern theatre, musicals or life in general. The kicker comes when it's time to go home and the only way to get there is on the night bus. Night buses, as I solemnly told Andrew last night, are the sacrifice I make for choosing not to have a car. As I singlehandedly continue my quest to save the world, I use public transport. I don't mind, normally. I like buses, I love trains, I like being able to stretch my legs and read whilst traveling. (and, for the record, Andrew, I do not sleep with a biography of Wellington under my pillow. Could you imagine what that would do to a book cover!??! No, no, when I fall asleep, it's safely tucked under my arm, teddy-bear style.) The problem with night buses is that the routes are longer, because there are less of them. So if you, like me, have been enjoying a relaxing evening among friends in a casual, low-light atmosphere with salsa, chips and your favourite adult beverage, it can be quite a shock to the system to be suddenly flung onto this fluorescent-lit, jerky, smelly bus full of other dazed people like you. Some times the trip can take more than an hour. Normally I counteract the effects of this by calling friends from home. The time difference works out perfectly, and I know that Sam is entertained by hearing about my humerous anectdotes firsthand.

Now that the weekend is over I need to concentrate on revising my piece before rehearsals on Thursday and Friday. And getting my sleeping schedule turned around. But right now I need to finish this coffee, and then put out some bird poison. Because if I'm going to bed at five in the morning, NOTHING is going to keep me up.