By: Blonde Two

I don’t like to mention this in the middle of an August bank holiday , but have you looked at the trees recently? If you have, you may have noticed that there are a few leaves around that are becoming less than green. As if bored with their summer uniform, some impatient trees are already nudging their way into autumn.

I feel that I should be sad about this. We have had a lovely sunshine-filled summer (well we have down in Devonshire) with long days that allow for before-breakfast and after-tea adventures, but I am not sad; like many people who enjoy the outdoors, I welcome the idea of autumn, in fact I also welcome the idea of winter (although maybe not the early evenings).

We in Britain are often so busy moaning about the weather, that we don’t stop to appreciate our seasons. Not everybody has them in the same way that we do. I remember clearly my New Zealand Aunty telling me that one thing she really missed about England was the spring, she went on to explain that although New Zealand had a spring (and I have since observed it’s loveliness) it didn’t give the same sense of relief and change that England’s did.

Seasons are great, especially if you have an outdoor place that you love. Take Dartmoor for instance, in summer it is as though she disguises her real self; the wild, boggy self that is coated with faded yellow moor grass, by donning a coat of green and adopting pastoral prettiness. I have yet to visit Scotland, for example, in the winter; I have fallen for her in the summer, I can’t tell if I would be equally enamoured by snow, ice and short days (I have every intention of finding out this winter!)

So when you go out soon for your summer evening walk, find a tree and study its leaves. If you find any red ones, don’t mourn the passing of summer; instead celebrate the approach of autumn, and then winter, and then spring, because one thing is for sure, there are more seasons just around the corner than you or I will ever get to see.