3am and timezones

It is 9am for me. I was just messaging my brother who is at 8pm yesterday and at the same time messaging a friend who is at 2pm later today. I wish I'd known about timezones when I was kid.

When I was little, I used to wake up, on the dot, at 3am most nights. 3am for me is a horrible time to be awake (unless I've been out partying and have just come home, although those days are mostly behind me now). 3am brings with it a sense of isolation and greyness that no other time of day has for me. Later on, say 4am, it is closer to dawn and I know the sun will soon rise. 1am is close to the previous midnight and so still somehow safe in its proximity to the cosy lights and chat of the previous evening. So I'd wake up at 3am and be scared. I would open the doors, walk across the landing, go to the loo and flush as loudly as I could while still (potentially) being able to prove I was trying to be quiet. Inevitably it woke at least one person. Then I would climb back into bed, safe and happy that there was at least one other person conscious and therefore still alive on this planet. I was scared of being the only conscious person.

I woke at 3am the other night feeling slightly tense and definitely alone. I suddenly realised that in England, it would only be 7pm and all the people that love me and that I love would still be awake. Sitting around chatting, browsing the internet, eating their dinner, whatever. They were conscious.

If only someone had told me about timezones when I was kid I'd never have been scared. All I wanted to know was that I was not the only conscious person in the world. Now, at the age of 33, that problem has been resolved. Hurrah!