It’s getting darker in the evenings too, and you don’t need to smile tolerantly and say ‘yes it does at this time of year’ because I know, but the weird weather is confusing me. I’m not wearing a coat when I go out yet, and the heating isn’t on, and the weeds (drat them) and the mould spores are still making me sneeze, even though it’s nothing like as bad as it is for my poor husband and son.
My son’s allergy specialist says it’s down to a combination of climate change and the council stopping routine spraying of weeds to save cash and be greener, but what it actually means is that the allergy season is getting longer and longer. So I’m torn between wanting a couple of nice sharp frosts to kill off the spores and weeds and enjoying these last balmy days in between storms. I even sat outside with my editing earlier on this week, but the feeling of autumn in the air is growing. The leaves haven’t turned yet, but it’s been so windy that a lot of them have come down anyway.
Today is October the first, and October is a funny old month, isn’t it? In the UK, the clocks go back at the end of the month so the mornings will get lighter again, which matters to me more than darker evenings because I’m a morning person. There used to be Halloween to celebrate when my children were young, but these days it feels like random children extracting sweets with menaces, so I tend to ignore it until it goes away. I don’t like fireworks much either, so that’s another ‘celebration’ I’ve given up for the sake of global warming because they can’t be good for animals or the environment.
But I’m not a total killjoy because once the weather turns there’ll be casseroles and stews and pies and sponge puddings and Dorset apple cake to make. There’s sticky gingerbread and I’m determined to learn how to make Parkin which seems to be gingerbread with oatmeal which must make it healthy, mustn’t it? There are hearty soups to make and eat with great big chunks of wholemeal bread, and there’ll be hot chocolate to enjoy drinking, probably with the odd squirt of cream on top and maybe a sprinkling or marshmallows or a flake. (Or both might be better because who wants to have to make unnecessary decisions?)
And writing this makes me realise that I’m ready to let summer go and welcome autumn. Now, if the seasons would just like to cooperate?
So today’s picture is taken in a little piece of woodland on the walk to my favourite Harbourside. Okay, it’s only a little wood, but I like the brambles and the oak trees and the mushrooms and the feeling of a world that’s settling down for a little snooze after a hard working summer. I really think we should do the same, don’t you?
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