This is the first week of the year in which it has really felt like Autumn.

The last couple of weeks of September were so abnormally hot – maybe on a par with June’s weather – and so it has only been over the past few days that temperatures have noticeably dropped and the darkness has become more apparent.  I’m writing this at 18:30 and the sky outside is already a hazy shade of ash with the moon glowing through, when just a few weeks ago it would have stayed light until 21:30.

Since schooldays, Autumn has, to me, always been about new starts.  It is when the lethargy of the Summer heat suddenly transforms  into a more fresh, vibrant energy – new ideas, new goals and new plans of action.  At school and University, this normally involved joining a new club or society for the academic year, or buying a new set of stationery or bed-linen and meeting new flatmates. Nowadays it’s not quite as marked or fun as that, but its still useful as a time to review our plans and get ourselves back into the fast-lane towards our ambitions, just as society starts waking up again from it’s Summer slumber.

So we say:  Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn:

Goodbye Summer
Streets splattered in the reddy-orange hues of the changing leaves;
Adjusting our eyes to the brightness of the house-lamps that were redundant over the light Summer months;
The resurgence of Saturday night t.v as something to do in the colder climes; 
Coastal bus-rides in the pouring rain underneath transparent skies; 
Dusting off hot-water bottles and re-introducing them to your mattress;
Re-discovering socks, boots and that extremely annoying, yet cosy, winter-jacket with all the feathers stuffed inside that keep poking out and getting stuck to your cardigan.
Hello Autumn. 

Song of the Day:  Matt Pond P.A – Halloween

I love Matt Pond and his ever-changing backing band of merry men (and possibly some women too at some point, I don’t know) – the artist is in my opinion Pennsylvania’s consistently best produce since 1998.  I just love him.  If I could, I would even send him a Valentines Day card.  I’m not entirely sure what this song is about but all I know is that I can listen to it over and over and never get bored and unsurprisingly, given the title, it reminds me of Autumn, hence being this post’s song of the day.  This song makes me smiley inside and jumpy in the wet Autumn leaves and puddles!

“Into where the people were on a Saturday night…”