Autumn in Brackenbury is definitely my favourite season of all. Every year I feel the same… those bright colours completely change the streets. The temperatures get a bit chilly but still warm enough to leave scarves and gloves at home; the sun goes down earlier and offers a gorgeous light with sparkles and pastel tones.
From a meteorologist’s perspective, Autumn is September, October and November. So on that basis Autumn started 1 September. There is also an ‘Astronomical Autumn’. This starts from the point where the day and night are of exactly even length, which this year fell on 23 Sept. Autumn by this measure lasts till the Winter Equinox on 21 December.
Let’s not forget the ornithological signs of Autumn, either. Falling temperatures trigger mass migrations of our birds to sunnier climes, particularly to Africa. Although my Swifts went ages ago you may be able to still see Swallows, and House Martins. And of course Blackbirds are also noisily around.
But in case you don’t spot any of these autumnal signs, here are a few to look out for:
- You start hankering after hot soups.
- You start seeing invitations for a flu shot in Boots.
- Christmas stuff is already in the shops.
- Saturday evenings are less a glass of rose and a BBQ and more red wine and Strictly.
- If you have a bad hair day you can wear a hat and nobody looks at you strangely.
- You stop cutting the grass.
- Your solar powered garden lights are not very effective any more.
- Starbucks introduce Pumpkin Spice Lattes for a limited time.
- You discover pumpkins are difficult to hollow out and carve into a mask.
- You have a childish desire to jump into a big pile of leaves.
Some people dislike autumn because it means winter is not far away, but if you think of it as a second spring where every leaf is a flower, you might view it differently.