Stare at your surroundings

Two little grey birds whizz through the maze of naked branches. Three, four, five - too fast to count. They plunge into the deep green bushes and out again, back to their crazy game of tag. The tree, a witch's broom, just stands there, upside-down, tall and grey, in all its honesty. No leaves, no secrets. No leaves but one, transparent yellow, hangs motionless - the breath of nature standing still. A pigeon, another shade of grey, lands on a branch right in the middle of the tree and swings up and down like a cowboy at a rodeo. The motion ripples through and scares fireworks of little birds in all directions. Captive audience, the cat in the window raises her head to follow their flight. The morning sky is layered with white and dusty cotton wool clouds. The weather hasn?t yet made up its mind for today. The house across the road wears its autumnal throw of Virginia Creeper, all shades of rusty and fiery red, defying greyness. The sun breaks through the clouds with an embrace of light and a promise of blue sky.

Take a few minutes to stare at your surroundings. Activity 2.1 on page 35, from the Big Red Book. I sat on my bedside with my laptop, stared out of my window and typed away. Two years ago in October, when I started studying Creative Writing.

Today, I took a photo of that same Virginia Creeper and signed up here. The trees aren't naked yet. Nature didn't stand still today. The wind took care of that. We had sun, then rain, then hail, and rain again. 11 years on, I understand why the weather is such a topic on this island. At 4.30 p.m. I drove up a hill at Greyfriars, when Mr and Mrs Pheasant crossed (it's true, they always come in pairs, like fire engines), and straight after that, surreally, Miss Deer. Like in a fairytale.

I love autumn. Crazy. Unpredictable. The wind and the rain and the sunshine, tears and laughter, all in one day. The blunt light once the leaves fall off the trees. Their colours on the ground, against the green grass. Nature going to great lengths to show us what we'll be missing through winter.

The colours and the autumn sun have always made me feel restless. Like a migrating bird. Where to?