So yes, Summer is definitely over. If you’re anything like me, you didn’t loose that ½ stone you put on last Christmas, didn’t get a golden brown tan from all the hours laying in the sun (what sun?) and didn’t have anywhere near enough bbq’s. The good news though? Now Autumn's here.I’ve heard the moaning, how depressing it is that Summer’s gone or how it’s the best season. While its true that the nights drawing in does encourage us to make like a grizzly bear, the fact is Summer, whether long and hot or cold and wet, is one of only four seasons that we get. Deciding you only like these few days means dooming yourself to being miserable 75% of the year. Which is just plain silly and I expected better from you.
And while Summer brings lazy warm days it also brings mosquitoes, heat rash and disappointment whenever the rains come which they inevitably do. You know other seasons misbehave as well right? Winter pretty much always outstays her welcome, like that one annoying person who’s come to your dinner party and then just won’t leave, even after you’ve done all the dishes and gone to bed! But Autumn always has those clear, crisp, burn your retina bright days, where the skies are blue and the leaves have gone mental and changed to a thousand different shades. It never fails to deliver.
Autumn means new clothes! It means digging out all the co-ordinated scarves, gloves and hats you have. It means you get to cover up the bits you would rather not show and the items of clothing you’d rather you hadn’t bought. Whether you shop at the evil that is Primark, are a devil in Prada or anywhere in-between, buying the right coat or boots can cover a multitude of jeggings!
It means fireworks night is coming, and therefore Christmas is just round the corner too! Autumn for a kid signifies new beginnings and change. I still remember that feeling from having fresh school supplies, all brand new and unused. The knowledge that (so far at any rate) I hadn’t been late to one lesson, bunked off one class or forget to do one piece of homework. Those new supplies represent a fresh new year full of possibilities and empty of mistakes. That only comes in Autumn at the beginning of the school term.
Autumn means doing away with cold salads or concerning yourself with diets, what’s the point when the season to be jolly is just a ho ho ho away? Now we get creamy soups that taste like a liquidised korma, big meaty pies, hot fruity pies, drinking chocolate with a massive helping of marshmallows, nourishing roast dinners and sausages with bacon and cheese mash!
And yes I'm fully aware that the leftover hippie leanings my parents passed onto me are a good part of reason behind this rambling. This became all too apparent to me recently when I pulled my car over just to watch the birds do their ‘time to bugger off to the Caribbean’ dance. But seriously folks, there’s so much worth looking forward to in the next few months.
So I’m banning ‘summers over’ grumblings. Anyone caught staring wistfully at their bikinis will be sentenced to repeat that song we sang at school if you’re of a certain age. I know it’s cold and raining and you want to head off to Barbados, but seeing as we can’t all do that I say we embrace the jewelled days.
What do you like about Autumn?
