Elusive quest for the sounds of nature

IN AN effort to wake up on time and somewhat alert, I’ve bought a new alarm clock.

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It wakes me up with the gradual increasing of a light which is meant to wake me, but in reality only means I turn over so that I can go back to sleep. Oh, and there is the noise of birds tweeting.

I had hoped that an extra dose of nature might force my brain into action, rather than instinctively wanting to hit the snooze button.

To be honest, the lad next door who shouts to his mates as he plays online video games at 7am does a better job of waking me up, although not in a pleasant way.

Before anyone corrects me, I know that there’s not much birdsong this time of year in any case, but even in spring I don’t get much tweeting from outside, living in a row of old Victorian terraced houses.

I know there isn’t much room on these sort of streets - which many of us have lived on from one time or another - to plant trees. There's hardly room for all the cars.