Autumn

The leaves are starting to turn and fall and I am already lamenting the loss of another summer.

We will go from summer where it might only rain every other day to autumn where you are lucky if the Glasgow rain stops at all.

Gone will be the languid walk home where getting off the bus two stops early to stroll through the leafy green park will be replaced by the rushing through the dark and rain to get home as fast as I can.

The tall trees that line the street will no longer hide the houses on the hill, instead they will shed their green coats, lay bare their branches and reveal the neighbours' lit windows.

There will be no more evenings spent at the table in the window, watching the changing light as the sun sets, instead I'll draw the curtains so I can huddle up under a blanket on my sofa with a cup of tea and a good book.

It will no longer be light more hours than it is dark.

I may lament the loss of the summer but only for a short while, soon I will start to become excited about the change from summer to autumn which will have winter tagging along behind it.

I will look forward to kicking up the piles of autumn leaves as I walk through the park, to dressing up at Halloween and standing at the flagpole in Queens Park on Bonfire Night watching the fireworks explode over the whole city.

Out with the summer salads and ice lollies and in with homemade soups and whisky to warm your bones!

Off with the stupid sandals and on with the wellies!

Pack away your summer clothes and dig out your woolly jumpers and mittens!

Thinking about it now I am getting excited about rushing out into the first snow and spending evenings with friends enjoying huge roast dinners and bread and butter puddings, baking, the pretty frosts, the eerie mists, getting red cheeks from the cold and seeing my breath in the air.

So, hooray for autumn!