Maybe it’s all down to the same combination of conditions that have produced the fecundity of fruit and fungi, but the autumn colours this year are very fine. This is not another football shot, honestly.
A colourful scene depicted from under the Mancunian Way this morning, on another beautifully sunny day. By all forecasts a storm is coming in and I’m not in Manchester again for days yet, so this might be the last time you see the city like this all year. Or, indeed, that I do.
The further north you go, the earlier the trees turn. Those who want to see displays like this in late September, come to northern Finland. The back of the traffic sign gives nice contrast.
Seems superfluous to add much commentary. A truly beautiful late autumn day today.
The clocks have gone back, and there’s no denying we are now firmly in autumn. The first intimations of sunset came worryingly early this evening. For some reason I feel especially reluctant to let go of the summer; the coming of winter gives me no feeling of comfort this time round.
There have been very few Hebden Bridge pictures on the blog recently; in the last sixty pictures, since 14th August, there have been only 10 before today (and five of them were in the first week of September). But there will be a run coming up; time to reconnect with home turf. The trees are just beginning to turn, the nights drawing in.
Sometimes things can improve. When I first started work at the University of Manchester in 2005 the campus was split in half by this traffic-choked urban throughway, one of the main A-roads of the whole country. It was really rather dismal. Slowly, by incremental steps, it has markedly improved, with most traffic now directed around the sides of the campus. The latest round of roadworks have now mostly gone and it is so much better than it was 11 years ago.
And another thing — there have been many reasons to be unhappy with 2016 in a global sense — but the UK’s autumn weather has not been one of them. Since mid-August it has mostly been tremendous. Same again today, for sure, a glorious autumn day.
What is a summer, but a return to autumn? An end, but a start?
[Haiku warning]
Utterly glorious day today. I suspect the chances of the rest of November being like this are remote, but hey, we can hope.
A dismal, rainy morning turned into quite a well-lit, mild and sunny afternoon, at least in Manchester. This leafy spot has appeared on the blog before — it is certainly one of central Manchester’s better locations if leaf-fall is your bag, despite being right next to the main arterial road that is the Mancunian Way.
Being 42 