Why does the cock crow before dawn?

 No, it's not a riddle. It's a question going through my tired mind.

We live in a village and somewhere there's a cockerel.

Most of the time I don't hear it crow but if the bedroom window is open...

then I do.

And it always seems to be dark with no sign of dawn.

If we have visitors there's always a lot of yawning and muttering about that bleeping cockerel.

(Yes, that is a drawing of a Raven, created me by the incredibly talented Terence Reed. I can't find where the rooster lives to take its picture) 

I don't mind hearing the crowing, because to me it reminds me of what villages used to be like, when they were purely for those who lived and worked around there.

Although I was town bred, I've lived in a lot of villages over the years. 

From one not much more than a hamlet (a dozen houses but with a shop and a school) to one almost the size of a small town (several shops, pubs, doctors surgeries and so on).

Plus, all sizes in between. 

Some were still very villagey-villages. Where you saw as many tractors as cars and the local shop sold mainly local produce. 

Others were no more than an extension of town. You hardly saw anyone around during the day, but watched everyone come back home in the evening.

Which do I prefer?

To be honest it's what suits at the time. It is strange though, to revisit somewhere I lived a long time ago and see how it's changed—or not.

The village where I—and the cockerel—live was once a village of farms. 

You can tell where they once were as a lot of the roads and new houses are named after them. Manor Farm Close, North Farm Lane, Jessops Crescent and so on.

Often the farm houses are still there, tucked between a nineteen-seventies semi and a twenty-first century detached. It makes for an interesting vista.

It also gets my writer's mind going. What was it like to live here a hundred years ago? What happened, what crops or animals would be around?

Was there a market near the market cross?

I researched, yes at one time there was a market. Yes there were four pubs or more. Shops, a bakery, a cemetery in the village and at the church...

All in a village of between 500-900 inhabitants, depending on the dates.

It's fascinating, and a good background for a story.

And of course there's always local gossip. 

There used to be a shop. It closed a few years ago. but evidently the shopkeeper, who was also the post-mistress refused to serve anyone she didn't like!

There is a school and a pub and lots of well-attended activities at the village hall.

The war memorial is looked after, the village kept neat and tidy.

It's friendly.

And it has the cockerel!

Why does it crow in the dark?

A question to ponder...

Happy reading,

love Raven xxx