It used to be I hated the end of September – summer’s lease has all too short a date. It meant less outside fun. Bad weather and shorter days.
But this year I resolved to turn all that on its head. To find new outdoor opportunities as the temperatures dropped and the nights drew in. To make autumn a season of what you can do, rather than what you can’t.
It’s amazing what difference this mind-set makes. There’s been night swimming, frosty morning dawn dips and watching fireworks from the sea. There’s been running through inky darkness, cold water bodyboarding and beach bonfires.
There’s been supermoon sea-swimming and asteroid gazing – the last unsuccessful in some ways (it was cloudy), but a whole heap of fun.
And each has had a special charge – a sense of seizing possibilities where they hadn’t previously been seen. Which means it’s finally dawned on me that cold weather and shorter days don’t mean you can’t do things – they just add new elements, or different dimensions, to the things you can.
So here’s to getting outside in autumn and still doing it anyway. No need to rage against the dying of the light – instead delight in the dark.
Belinda Dixon 