i love autumn

I think we can officially say that autumn is here. There is that lovely nip in the air, the leaves are turning, the geese are on the move, there's a new smell, a sense of purpose... and the students have arrived.

Let's just say, sleep does not, for the time being, appear to be on their menu. Once I had managed to bring myself round this morning, I went for a walk to try and exorcise some of the gloom and despondency that tends to settle when you have been kept awake most of the night by people coming and going, banging on doors, singing, tripping about in high heels, and shouting 'William! Let me in!'

Bless their enthusiasm.

The park as usual was mostly deserted, yet full of that heavy freshness that an autumn day can bring. On my walk I noticed:

A green, damp smell of grass clippings.

Four mistle thrushes having a bath in the half-hidden hollow at the centre of the old bowling green.

The rasp of magpies.

A single feather on the grass.

Yellow leaves lying on the path, surrounded by an aura of wet concrete.

Three tiny alder cones.

Single lime tree seeds looking just like embroidery stitches.

The trains whizzing by high up on the embankment.

The office boys with their bedhead hair walking to the station in a flurry of aftershave.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, so I took these pictures of some leaves and seedheads I picked in the garden to draw, instead.