A normal work day in the city starts anywhere between 8:30 AM and 9:20 AM. Commuters try to find a balance by waking up as late as they could while minimizing the time it takes for them to get to work. This morning, I had to be unusually early, 6 AM to be specific. A heavy downpour had blanketed the city. In the pre-dawn hours, while it was still dark and pouring, I stepped outside my apartment building and slowly walked towards an intersection. I started seeing a few people, some with umbrellas, some drenched in rain, a few with hooded sweatshirts, men and women, all making their way from the subway station to different restaurants still to be opened and to apartments where the owners were still asleep.The rain kept pouring; while I held on to my bag, I looked at my shoes and realized that they were soaked. Then, I looked at the establishment where I usually go to grab my breakfast or a morning coffee. There was a dim light inside, and a few people had already started working there. A man was mopping the floor and a lady was cleaning the counters, while another man was preparing the coffee machine. Outside, a man in a hooded sweatshirt was cleaning the sidewalk. Looking at the rest of the people still coming from the subway station, I realized that many of them might have been commuting for more than an hour and some are already here so that my breakfast could be prepared, warm and ready by 8:30 AM.
While waiting, the rain started slowly easing and the people in the restaurant started turning on more of it's lights. The man in the hooded sweatshirt, now completely soaked in the rain, started putting up signs and tables outside. A faint glow of dawn from the eastern horizon began to slowly peek between the buildings. It was now time for everyone else to wake up.
