It was still dark when I woke up.
The lane light remains out of use and so the bedroom is almost totally dark, expect for the slight glow from the garden solar lights and the faraway moon.
There comes the patter of paws on wooden floor boards
Then an excited squeak , followed by another set of pattering
The twins are in the bedroom.
They don’t stay long, for the Marathon run is from my bedroom around theirs up and down the hall and into the bathroom where they terminate inside the shower cubicle .
I heard the toilet roll being unravelled and various shower gels being knocked over.
I fell asleep until my extended foot and right big toe was being tapped furiously .
More racing and fighting.
This time up and down the stairs.
The first step is the first step into no man’s land and cannot be negotiated as yet.
The upstairs is their domain.
Around dawn they were at it again .
This time abseiling down the side of the bed ,
More toe smacks, and zooms and the occasional fart
Something crashes in the bathroom and the dogs bark from their place on the reading chair in the kitchen.
I put the pillow over my head
And swear
It’s not yet 6 am