Autumn

We may have had a non-summer, but by heaven, what a glorious autumn it’s been! Today feels like the first proper day of the last month of autumn; biting cold, breathing white air into the clear crispness. But the skies have been a fierce and gorgeous blue for all of the last two months, and the trees have shown glorious colours all season. And it has been warm - a warm, warm autumn.

Yesterday I had a rare day alone, and sat on the lawn with my coffee in the last triangle of sunshine till summer comes back next year. I did the last of the gardening; putting everything to bed for the winter – clearing up the last late fruit-fall from the lawn, cutting away dead wood, raking dry leaves. I fed our new visiting robin some nuts and earthworms.

And mourned the low sun when it finally set behind the rooftops at 2 in the afternoon. It feels like the end of the world, like a sort of death.

All week we’ve heard the crack of fireworks at night. The smell of bonfire smoke in the evening permeates the air. Radiators clank on early in the afternoon, and the Christmas displays are up in Harrods’ windows.

My new job in Knightsbridge has been something of a chore; I start at 9am as usual in the mornings, but end an hour later – at 6. That, and the early onset of night seems to have made me more tired than usual.

But my social life has become a bit crazy too; a new man and loads of pre-Christmas drinks’ gatherings means I rarely get to gym anymore, and very often don’t get home before midnight. I don't mind though; I'm feeling happy, motivated and involved. And I know that in 6 weeks time, I will be in the African sunshine again.