Hello

You might be thinking that I, and indeed the vast majority of British people are obsessed with the weather. You are right.

September 1st marks the beginning of autumn, but only from one point of view ~ that of the Meteorological Office, who describe it thus:

………   each season is a three-month period. So, Summer is June, July and August; Autumn is September, October and November, and so on.

If that fills you with dark and damp feelings of utter disbelief and horror (summer is over, and it was RUBBISH) you can take the astronomical definition of the seasons which uses the Earth’s position relative to the Sun as the cue for separating one season from another. It is the equinox, when days and nights are of equal length which marks the beginning of autumn if you prefer to delay the inevitable. In that case autumn this year (2015) starts on September 23rd. Astronomical seasons therefore are about three weeks behind the meteorological ones. Whew.

The third way of looking for the beginning of autumn is based on phenology – the process of noting the signs of change in plant and animal behaviour. Ripe sloes and blackberries (tick), mushrooms growing on the lawn (tick), Japanese anemones in full flower (tick). In the case of this animal, thoughts turning to Christmas (tick), feeling cold in bed (tick) and the need to start cooking warming stews (tick).

I reckon it is here. You can run but you cannot hide. For those who love autumn/fall, enjoy. Some of us will have to fight the instinct to hibernate.

Now where did I put that SAD lamp and those bed socks?

Annie Bee x