TUESDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2022 1032HRS BST

 

Autumn is definitely here - I've had to turn the heat up from the summer setting, put blankets on the bed, and shift from summer to autumn-winter menus.

 

I love this time of year. I love all four seasons, of course, but there is something almost indescribably wonderful about autumn. From the changing colours on trees and shrubs to the no-choice-about-it having to rake leaves, I love the look of autumn - but there is so much more to my reasons for loving this season more than the others. I go full-on Christmas planning in September, I order the next year calendars and diaries. I defrost the freezers in preparation for stocking in foods including baked ahead goodies. I clean the house top to bottom taking especial care to deep clean the kitchen, I plan the Guy Fawkes fireworks purchase (buying enough to get us through not only 5th November but Hogmanay as well - it ain't New Year without fireworks!). I check to make sure the blankets and cold weather clothing I washed at late summer are still fresh. And I start planning the Christmas baking. 

I start Christmas gift shopping in February but the serious planning for the Christmas season begins in mid-September - I am well on my way to finalising the decorating scheme for Christmas 2022. A large part of my planning this year is creating a flat-back mantel tree using the 3ft 'mostly realistic' tree to cut away 'branches' to make it a flat back so it will sit on the mantle without my spending the entire season worrying the cat is going to get up there and mangle it to the point it slips off despite my having anchored it to the wall. 

There is a war on and The Mad Man In Moscow is threatening to drop nukes on the UK and Europe to punish us for sending military equipment to Ukraine. We're in the throes of a 'cost of living crisis' that threatens to morph into a Great Depression. Supply chains are disrupted and the 'blame' for said disruptions is laid at several doors. Union strikes (rail and other public transport workers, post, barristers, teachers, medics...) are making moving around the country quite difficult for those without privately owned transport - and the cost of fueling said private transport is eye-watering so the public transport strikes are especially onerous. 

 

Britain has a new Monarch and although initially he had a great lot of public goodwill, that goodwill is dimming owing to a media push to disclose some uncomfortable truths about King Charles III (seriously, we've known for years he has his valet squeeze the toothpaste out, did we need to be reminded?). The most disturbing 'tidbit' against the King is the newly announced criminal investigation of some of his closest aides comfort level accepting satchels overflowing with cash, but also not nice is the announcement of the new season of The Crown (Netflix) which will focus on...Charles-Diana-Camilla. Not to mention the deeply unsavoury row with 'Harry and Meghan' who are demanding Royal titles for their two children (per the 1917 Patent). Apparently His Majesty is (rightly) reluctant to grant the titles owing to 'Harry and Meghan' having the unfortunate propensity to merchandise any and every Royal connection they have (whilst not lifting a finger to support the Monarchy they so dearly love to tarnish with their professional victim-hood). 

I could go on listing all the dismaying news. Instead I'm going to lose myself in autumn.