Common Hours

The kettle goes on first

Before the radio, before the phone, before the list: the red kettle and the four minutes it takes to boil.

A red enamel kettle on a dark wooden cupboard in a kitchen, with dried autumn decorations behind it.

Four minutes is exactly long enough to notice what kind of morning it is. Rain on the skylight, a neighbour’s door, the cat deciding whether to be fed.

The ritual

TakesFour minutes
NeedsA kettle, one cup, nothing with a screen
WhenBefore anyone else is up

How it goes

  1. Fill the kettle only as far as one cup needs.
  2. Stand at the cupboard while it heats instead of starting something else.
  3. Pour, and carry the cup to the window before the first sip.

The rule is small on purpose. Nothing starts until the kettle clicks off, and so the day starts a little more slowly than it would otherwise.

Kept with: ,