Welcome to autumn

The start of autumn - and the other seasons, for that matter - is always the subject of debate between my wife and I.

She has this odd view that there is a gradual change between the seasons - temperatures slowly falling as summer fades, the leaves on the trees taking on different colours as autumn edges into view.

I, on the other hand, hold to the view that autumn starts on September 21.

Yesterday was summer, today is autumn. How else would I know when to put the central heating on?

It certainly explains why the first autumn mists appeared over the nearby canal this very morning.

Okay, it's not a particularly convincing argument. But I have heard that the card companies are thinking of cashing in by declaring today 'Autumn Day'. Only joking!

Autumn - whenever it is - is possibly when the canal looks at its best. The mist this morning gave it a mysterious, enchanted feel. But there are occasions when the rays from the early morning sun cut through the mist to make the scene truly magical.

So it's goodbye to the long, warm, sunny days of summer (only joking again) and hello to the 'season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom-friend of the maturing sun'.

...until Winter Day on December 21.