Town awakening.............

I don't like being in towns, I make no secret of that, but I find them infinitely more tolerable early in the morning, before they get too busy with people and traffic. I occasionally go down to Wimborne with OH who drops me off very early on the way through to his work elsehwere, though, and thus I found myself in The Square at 7.25 am yesterday on a lovely late spring morning.
There is a special atmosphere to a town waking up; the pace is slightly languid, people have time to say/shout good morning and other greetings, there seems to be a whole separate little early-morning-in-town community. The coffee shop has its regulars in for their first fix of the day - I am getting to recognise some of them now, slightly bleary eyed, the staff know their regular orders, and general pleasantries are exchanged over rustling newspapers and the occasional yawn.......
Outside the cosiness of the coffee shop, boxes of fruit are being unloaded at the greengrocer, postmen dart about on bikes and the mechanical groans of the recycling lorry are heard across the Square, the drivers waiting patiently behind to let them get on with their work; I suspect later in the day there may be less patience around, but luckily I am gone by that time.
I sat for a time outside the Minster, in the sun, watching the blackbirds hopping about, listening to the birdsong and doing a bit of people-watching, one of my favourite pastimes :)
Walked down by the river, saddened by the desecration of the cricket pitch (a whole separate post for that coming up :( ), delighted by the wildlife around a beautifully clear and clear river gurgling throught the town centre; admired what must be one of the prettiest library gardens in the country ( the photo with the statue), and headed off out of the town towards a meeting.
Thoroughly enjoyable start to the day; and while I wouldn't want to live in a town, seeing and taking part in the daily rituals of waking it up seems quite special.