Morning is broken

Hands up if your typical day starts with the following:

• Woken up against your wishes, be your alarm clock a unadulterated buzzer or a more sophisticated "is it morning time yet?"

• Your first thought: 'I have 45 minutes before I have to leave for work, but I've got to shower, make breakfast for me, 2, 3 (delete as appropriate)' and hang last night's washing out.

• You put your feet on the bedroom floor only to realise you now have 20 minutes.

• In the shower, you wash your body with shampoo because your mind was too busy thinking about the person at work who annoyed you yesterday and how you're going to deal with them today.

• You left the house without your staff pass/wallet/gym kit/keys/pants

If it doesn't ever start that way and you're feeling smug, then you must be a student, rock star or celebrity gardener. Damn you.

In a bid to add a moment of calm to the madness of life, I've discovered that even just 10 minutes with a yoghurt and coffee in the garden, rain or shine, can massage your overworked morning head, soften the stinging eyes and fill the heavy lungs with peacefulness. 

But if you've nowhere to sit then peacefulness turns to wistfulness as you wish you could rest your sleepy legs in the sun all morning. 

Chairs. There's a reason every designer known to history has tried to create the ultimate bottom-pampering structure.  There is no better resting place for the waking hours. Garden chairs perhaps don't get as much press and need to be weather proof thus limiting the designer's palette, but they have no doubt kept many a creative genius up at night. Although in truth, everyone just wants a hammock.

Last year I saw a bench outside an antiques shop that at the time I couldn't justify buying. I loved it and have been pining ever since. Then, this week, my lovely friends Sarah and Mark delivered a present to my door - Sarah's iron and wooden bench, looking for a good home gratis, in need of just a touch of tlc. Safe to say, it has made itself, and my backside, very much at home already, despite plans for a mini bench makeover! Thank you Sarah, absolutely love it. 

My mornings this week have been transformed by a simple addition of this understated classic piece of furniture. The everyday pressure to do something, be somewhere, please others, punctuated; a pause in time to allow raspberries to be picked for porridge and enjoyed sat in the gentle heat of the morning sun.  

So, as you kneel among your onions or dig up your potatoes, take a look around and think, where is your spot to quietly admire your handiwork? If it's not there, then you're disrespecting your peaches.