September already!
I read recently that, apparently, an unusually warm stint in the autumn cannot truly be labelled an ‘Indian summer’ until after the first frost of the season. So whilst we may have all been basking in 30 plus degrees heat over the first ten days of September, sorry folks, an Indian summer it was not.
Still, bloomin’ typical isn’t it? July and August was full of [insert expletive] weather, and as soon as the kids return to school, in come some of the hottest days of the year so far.
Mind you, personally I (James) am not complaining. Having spent the vast majority of the last couple of months at Nutty’s Summer Holiday Club (and what fun it was too), where we experienced more than our fair share of rain, a late dose of sizzling summer sunshine was very welcome from where I was sitting (mainly in my garden in SW19).
But here we are: September! How did that happen? I swear I only wrote a blog on new year’s resolutions about five minutes ago. As I get older - I have recently turned 34 - it never ceases to amaze me just how much more quickly time seems to move. It makes perfect sense when you think about it; the summer holidays will seem like an eternity to a five year old because, as a proportion of their life, six weeks is a far greater period of time than it is to you or I. But now, for me, five years goes by in the blink of an eye!
You might be wondering, at this stage, what I am driving at. All of this rambling about the seasons, reflecting on time passed and pondering over the weather. Well, truth be told, I don’t really know what I am driving at! What I do know, is that I tend to fall into this state of reflection - with a perfectly innocuous pinch of melancholy - when we transition from one period of the year into the next. And the recent weather anomalies have made me contemplate it all the more.
Perhaps it is because my working life is, by nature, very seasonal. In my other life I am an actor, working in theatre when the casting gods allow me to do so. Typically, a year might involve some open-air touring Shakespeare through the summer and a pantomime from November to early Januray. Both very much anchored in their calendar seasons. Pad this out with many, many Nutty’s parties and plenty of holiday clubs - again, very seasonally orientated - and my work diary has been dictated by what is happening according to the time of year. So when something comes to an end - Nutty’s Summer Holiday Club, for example - I feel the change all the more acutely. Throw in a meteorological change coinciding with it, and I am well and truly in a pensive state!
Here ends my self-indulgent musings! With apologies.
Anyway, the autumn is officially here and I am quite ready for it, thank you very much. Bring on scarfs, Sunday walks in a leaf-strewn London park and chai lattes from the high street coffee outlets.
Autumn is usually a busy time at Nutty’s. Typically, we get a flurry of party-packed weekends through September, partly accounted for by the backlog of summer holiday birthdays (as an August birthday myself, we always used to wait until we were back at school for my twin brother’s and my party).
It also seems to be a busy time generally. The football season is well and truly underway if that’s your thing. For the people in my industry, autumn weddings seem to be popular and as someone in their mid 30s I have friends getting married hand over fist. Cue: several Big Data to attend this season. Just round the corner is Halloween, then bonfire night and before we know it…we’ll be preparing for - don’t say it - it’ll be time for - DON’T SAY IT!…yep: Christmas. There. I said it. After all, we’re all thinking it.
