On autumn

October 14, 2018 by Ray Morgan

I love this time of year. It was always my favourite. It makes me think of You've Got Mail, when Tom Hanks' Joe Fox says to his mystery email-romance (Meg Ryan's Kathleen Kelly) "Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address."

Crunchy leaves in piles, trees aflame with oranges and reds. That perfect thing when a spider's web gets covered in dew on a hedge and it looks like it wouldn't be out of place in Sancto's window. Putting the heating on and cracking open a bottle of red for Strictly on a Saturday night. 

It's been unseasonably warm, though, this year. A couple of Fridays ago I went to Dorset and got married. The sky was blue, the sun beaming, and the day so hot that I had to go into a shop and buy tshirts to change into as I'd only packed jumpers. There I was after the ceremony, in my wedding dress (hot pink sequins in case you're wondering), perusing the sale rail in Joules, clutching hangers of light cotton tees so I could finally cool down. 

Jo (my wife, haha! Funny saying that NOT as Papa Lazarou) and I ate chips and drank champagne on the beach and it could have been a summer's day. Seagulls wheeled and angled for dropped chips, people sunbathed - sunbathed! We've put the suncream back in the cabinet, haven't we, but all of a sudden it was needed again. We kept saying we couldn't believe the weather. Hot, full sun and roaring blue skies - we couldn't help but feel it was just for us. I thought of all the people we have dearly loved and lost and wondered what role they might have had in that. That was the romantic in me, of course. 

A week later and we were back at work with our names unchanged like it was all a dream, except for the flowers and cards and champagne in our house which frankly, I could get used to. I walked to work and was soon shedding layers before I'd even got halfway. Off with the cardi, holding my coat, WHY did I bring a scarf and wear my DM shoes? I have been getting to work absolutely roasting, using post to fan my face and needing a cold glass of water and a calm down. 

I learned from this rookie autumn mistake, and promptly switched to Birkenstocks and a light jacket. I walked home from work and crunched through piles of golden, scarlet leaves - in sandals. The heating's been on and off so much the rads don't know what's hit them. The garden is bursting with life and colour still. My sister and I had a night-time swim a few weeks ago and the water in the estuary was properly warm, and we were able to just pull on jumpers and leggings after and walk home and not freeze. Extraordinary. We always have this transition-time when we switch seasons, but I've never kicked through piles of autumn leaves in Birkenstocks before. 

Just days before this, though, whole plant pots had been thrown down the garden in extreme winds. Pots cracked, ornamental bottles in my garden smashed - this is our new normal. No longer those easy transitions between seasons but extremes. It was glorious, of course, to get married on a hot summer's day and sunbathe and clink champagne against an impossibly blue sky, but for October, we hadn't expected it. Jumpers remained stuffed in the bottom of our bags. 

This is probably our future. Unseasonably mad weather. We experienced it in the summer with those heatwaves; we've never had it so intense. With climate change (it is a thing, don't @ me) - our new normal is to very much be surprised. Pack a brolly. Wear layers. Pack a jumper. Be prepared for the wrong footwear. Always try to buy a tshirt in Joules when it's sale time. It's particularly fun wearing a wedding dress but I can appreciate that's not always practical. 

Anyway. I shall raise my cup of tea to autumn - may you always be beautiful, colourful and as enjoyable as a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils. Don't ever change.