Early to rise makes a man healthy, (un)wealthy and wise

I don't sleep all that well. Or rather I don't sleep all that much. I tend to wake up between 4am and 5am most mornings, including weekends (apart from the rare occasions when I've been out on the lash the night before). My system seems to be set to 5 hours sleep like an internal alarm clock, to the point of making an analogue or digital version redundant. In fact, I find it rather unpleasant to be woken up by some loud audio so whenever I do feel the need to add an external to be on the safe side, catching early trains or planes for instance, I tend to wake up about 15 minutes before the alarm is set to go off just to avoid the bloody thing. First world problems and that.

The upshot to my early morning rise is having a couple of hours of spare time in the morning before having to get out of bed. Or in the case of that ghastly post-referendum morning 4 hours of staring into the abyss before getting out of bed. My brain decided that it was time to wake up at 3am and check the early results. Wish I hadn't bothered. The worst start to a day I've had in a long time, waking up in a pool of vomit with a hangover that feels like the grim reaper is hovering with intent is preferable. Not that I've ever experienced such an episode of course.

On a normal day, most of the early morning time is spent perusing the net, BBC news, BBC sports, BBC football gossip, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Aftonbladet, IMDb, Flixster, Arseblog (not related to anatomy), social media. Keeping my grey matter in good condition. And of course online shops. For some odd reason most retailers have my email address and they all keep sending manipulative and cunning communications with the aim of enticing me to spend. Someone with a stronger psyche may feel able to resist or control their temptations but not me. I'm straight in there. Call me Eve.

So it is that I've developed a new hobby - early morning shopping. It's a pure joy. Hitting the check out button on a 60% off, plus an extra 10% off the sale price, bargain is sweet as. And it sends me off to work in a good mood, post-Brexit grey mist aside. In recent weeks my morning spending sprees have resulted in an array of items, all at 50% off or more.

Black trench coat - Zara

Grey denim shirt - Zara
Perfect combo, although summer appears to have finally arrived in London so there'll be a few weeks til the coat gets an airing.



Blue trench coat in 'technical fabric' - Zara
Peach knitted polo shirt with a slightly annoying concealed button fastening - Zara
Some may argue that it's a tad frivolous to buy two trench coats in one go. Not me



Black velvet floral printed t shirt - River Island
New Balance trainers in tricolor (allez les bleus tomorrow!!) - Asos
Navy polka dot polo shirt - Topman
Black sweatshirt with Malmö print (very random) which I obviously had to buy, hashtag patriotism - Topman

Red skinny trousers - Topman

Cream slim chinos - River Island

Grey slim jeans - River Island

So there you have it. Bargain shopping is good for you. I reckon it should be counted as 1 of your 5 a day. Infinitely more enjoyable than a green super food smoothie.