The switch happened on a recent afternoon – that moment when summer was no longer in the rear-view window, when we had moved too far beyond its warmth and light to pretend otherwise. I don’t know why I felt it so keenly, but there it was – incontrovertibly autumn – and no going back now.
The light had shifted, it slanted differently at the end of the day, which also came on quicker. The leaves in the trees were also betraying the change, with some branches already daring to go completely nude and naked. The next bout of wind and rain, no matter how insignificant, will pull the majority down, then we’ll really see it.
For now, with the sunny days we’d been lucky enough to have of late, it’s a very pretty point in the seasonal progression. The raw and dreary days are on the way though, and the trick will be in finding the comfort in that stark new vast expanse of beauty, as it’s a beauty that often proves elusive and difficult to see on first glance. The world is no longer interested in such gradations and subtlety anymore, and it’s all the more sadder for it.
