Season of mists

O season of mists and mellow fruitfulness! Keats' Ode to Autumn was a poem I had to critique at school and its imagery has always stayed with me. I recall being inspired to write a similar epistle to the turning of the seasons entitled "Dark September" which I need to look out. That was in 1986, after contemplating the onset of dusk in our dining room at home. There always seems to be a point around this time
of year where you become aware of a change in the light. Maybe the angle of the sun gives a bluer, purer, slightly less hazy light as it cuts through the atmosphere. Maybe the light fades quicker than you've been used to. For me, the point tends to be the end of the evening cricket season in mid to late August, when dusk is sudden and the ball becomes near impossible to pick out of the trees and hedges and even across the grass soon after 8pm.

This year there is no closing Sunday friendly up at Largo, which is a shame, as I always like to mark the end of the season up there (it gives me a chance to get a bat and, given my unprecedented two golden ducks this season, I could badly do with that) and reflect with a quiet moment looking out to the Firth of Forth after a post-match drink in the Railway Tavern. This season ended in defeat at Double Hedges, though we can't complain, having won two out of three trophies and lost in the final of the other.

There were a few mornings this week where the Pentlands were shrouded in mist in the morning and the dew on the grass was noticeably heavier than it had been. I've not managed a round of golf so far this year, but these would have been fine days to have been playing, the sun burning off the mist and a balmy September breeze idly fluttering the flags.

The boys are all back at school and well settled into their routines of ignoring us in the morning when they should be getting dressed, complaining when asked to do their homework, losing a percentage of items that they left with in the morning and generally being hard work. Sharon and I are vowing to try and set the tone by being positive but it ain't easy. The more things change, the more things stay the same!