The First Thing I Do In The Morning

I usually wake sometime between 6am and 7am, earlier if it's an exceptionally bright morning. I've never been one to 'lie-in', I get restless and bored, so, I'm out of bed quite quickly. We sleep in the loft, with dormer windows looking out over the marsh. The view is often gorgeous at this hour and subtly different every morning depending on the weather, so I invariably pause here to see what permutation of mist, mizzle and sunshine is out there, before heading carefully down the narrow staircase. In the kitchen, my trusty Chemex awaits and within 15 minutes of waking I'm sat on the sofa in the conservatory, enjoying a peaceful pot of coffee and checking out the early birds rummaging around the garden. And so begins another day.

 'The First Thing I Do In The Morning' by Joyce Williams has appeared on a number of compilations with titles such as 'Eccentric Soul' and 'Rare Funk Liberation', which, let's face it, if you saw sitting in a record shop, you'd buy without hesitation wouldn't you? I have the latter in my collection and I can assure you that the album more than lives up to its cool title.