Tick

Some how I've developed an internal clock.

I didn't use to have one. I remember back in the day slapping the snot out of the snooze alarm and doing the fuzzy headed morning math to reason that I still had thirty minutes before I REALLY had to get up. Work, wife and kids have changed that when I wasn't looking. For the past few years, the alarm in my head has been stuck on 6am - regardless of how much sleep I got that night.

For the most part, this works. Early enough to be up and going during the work week. And not bad, really, on the weekend as it gives me time to enjoy some coffee and quiet time before the chaos that is children begins.

The real problem is when I have to be somewhere early. My internal clock knows that the alarm is now required to wake me at 4:30 so I can catch my flight. Apparently, it doesn't like the idea and does its level best to beat that clock. Which generally has me up at 2. It's then that the brain remembers the routine and works out that I still have two and a half hours of sleep: if I can fall back asleep that is.