In the meantime, all I could do was sit in my dark room, burning with the urge to get out of the house and walk around the city, to look around and taste the freedom.
How uncomfortable it was to be a vampire during the night hours! How inconvenient not to sleep, but to be constantly awake and hiding in the house, not daring to switch on the light, and dying of boredom.
I went to the window and looked at the neighbouring houses: they stood silent, somewhat sullen in the yellow rays of the lantern, and no light was burning in any of the windows. The people were asleep.
To keep myself busy, I decided to iron all the clothes that were wrinkled in my bags, but there was no ironing board in the house, so I ironed them on my bed without turning on the light. It took me about three hours, but even then , the city was still asleep.
I watched the hands of the clock eagerly, waiting to see if it would show six o'clock in the morning: my plan was to take my Walkman and jog through the waking town.
Finally, the light of the lanterns faded against the misty English dawn.
«At last! What boredom awaits me at night!» – I thought as I changed into linen shorts and T-shirt. In the hallway I quickly put on my sneakers, plugged my headphones into my ears, turned on my Walkman, walked out of the house, closed the door, went down the stairs and slowly ran along the beautiful street paved with big stones, meeting no one on my way, as if there were no people in this city at all.
The English morning even smelt different: something unfamiliar, it was different from home, and I felt acutely pleased with myself.
I ran down the street, smiling and listening to my favourite tunes playing in my headphones.
Soon I came across the first person of the morning, an elderly man walking his dachshund in one of the parks: the dog followed him lazily and sleepily, lolling from one paw to the other. Following the man, I met two girls running towards me and jogging too.
«How cool it must be to run and chat with a friend!» – I thought to myself as I followed them with my gaze.
Slowly the city came alive: people were coming out of their houses, saying hello, waving, nodding, going somewhere. Cafes were opening (I knew that shops in Oxford didn't open before ten o'clock), and more and more cars and cyclists were appearing on the roads.