Global weirding and the English summer

The dog days of August have slipped their leash and scarpered. The light, the weather and the feel of the landscape belong to early autumn now. Just as the huge combine harvesters roared across fields to suck up all the grain before rain flattened the crop, so we seem to have crashed into autumn without pausing to celebrate what little summer we've had. Like the apple windfalls being pecked smaller and smaller by blackbirds, summer memories are fading in the grass. Many trees are showing signs of colour change or, as in the case of horse chestnuts and poplars, a browning and shrivelling of leaves. The weather blows hot and cold, humid and breezy, bright and dull. A shower seems imminent but the sun comes out and it's really hot, then a lid of cloud gets screwed back on and it's dull and sticky again.

-- Paul Evans