Coffee, autumn and all that malarky

I started walking into the city at 8am this morning as there is a bus strike today. During my walk I experienced cloud, wind, brilliant sunshine and bucketing rain. By 8.35 I was sitting in s cafe drinking this cup of coffee and writing about it....

I love autumn. It's without a doubt my favourite season of the year. It sounds corny but there is something magical about it. Autumn is a feast for the senses, it is a time of transition.
For smell you have leaf mould, bonfires, chestnuts roasting, for sight you have glorous colours (red, gold, yellow and brown), bonfires and fireworks, for taste there are chestnuts, baked poatoes and halloween sweeties, for the ears there is the crunch of leaves underfoot, fireworks and the crackle of bonfires, for touch there is smooth conkers inside prickly shells, crispy leaves, sparklers and pumpkins to carve.

The down side of autumn is knowing what to wear. If you put on trouser socks and shoes you can be sweating like a warm cheese by 11 am and conversely if you choose a skirt and sandals you can be caught in downpour whilst being battered mercilessly by artic winds. You just can't win. I sometimes resort to taking extra clothes out with me. Sad I know but it can save a great deal of misery in the long run.

My top 5 Autumn Smells

1) Bonfires/woodsmoke
2) Leaf mould
3) Spent Fireworks
4) Roasting chestnuts
5) Toasting pumpkin (as those halloween candles slowly sear the inside of that lovingly carved pumpkin head)

I once wrote a slightly corny poem about autumn and it goes like this:

Autumn

Golden autumn,
Showering bronzed leaves earthwards,
Your copper-coated fingers
Creep across the belly of the land.

I am humbled by your frosted silences,
Your wheat-filled ears overflow with rain,
Earthbound chestnuts
Like skydiving missiles assault the ground.

I breathe deeply of your bounteous,
Bonfire-scented air;
I crunch through your leaf-encrusted streets
To pay homage at your fruit-laden altar.

I bask in your sunshine
And revel in your rainbows,
I taste the burnished beauty of your berries
And know that all is not lost in the world.