Wednesday 4th November - Half past Seven in the evening

My eyes are beginning to feel a bit glued together and I am struggling to say awake.

I was thinking about last year - on a Wednesday I would have been leaving the house before half past 8, shivering until the heating got going. Then coping with the last of the commuter traffic driving to the first school of the day, struggling to find a parking space among the craziness of parents dropping off their children (late again) , chatting in the street outside the school, or trying to zip out into the traffic to get to work.  

Hassled and harassed I would work my way through all the security gates, walking lop-sided because of my piano teaching bag, dump my stuff in the staff room and get ready to teach. No, get ready to get ready to teach - I still had to wheel the piano across the hall and into the staff room, go back for the stool, and THEN get ready to teach!

I had sven individual pupils at that school, which would take me up to half past twelve. Time for me to go home for lunch, leaving the piano in the staff room, I am happy to say, as the hall was now full of children carrying wobbly trays of food. Out through all the security doors and stagger back to the car and drive home.

Then, reload the car with a different set of kit (laptop, speaker, guitar, music bag) and go to the second school to teach a whole class guitar lesson for thirty or more seven-year-olds. Having survived this high energy, high octane, high chaos hour, I would stagger back home feeling as though I had done three rounds with a troupe of monkeys.

No peace yet - just time for a cup of coffee before the first of four piano pupils, starting at 4pm. 

I would be finished by 6, supper would magically appear (thank you, wonderful husband). 

By half past seven I would be falling asleep in front of the tv, with good reason!

Now, a year later, Wednesday was like this; 

I got up after a leisurely start at about 10, taught a lesson at 11 (a favourite 'chat and lesson' time with a good friend!), lunch, afternoon spent on paperwork and various projects, and three more piano lessons leisurely spaced out between 4 and 6. The magic re supper is still working;

Compare the two - how come I am nearly falling asleep at half past seven?