Monday 31st August 2026

The last day of summer.

Perhaps.

According to the Met Office, 1st September is the first day of Autumn. They may be right.

As it is, its now dark by half eight, earlier if cloudy, and the sun rises after six.

Alongside Whitfield Hill, the Horse chestnuts have given up for another year, and their leaves are already a golden brown. The harvest is in, fields have been harrowed and some manure spread.

Autumn is coming, if its not already here.

It was also Bank Holiday Monday, the last before Christmas Day, and we had nothing planned.

There was no cycling, as it was a rest day, and only one Premier League game, and that was at eight in the evening, so we had a whole day to fill.

Truth is I had some tasks to do, something I will share with you at the end of the week, but digging out documents and information I thought I'd never need again.

Life changes, as it does.

So, after a lay in until nearly seven. Get up, get dressed and have coffee. Outside it was a chilly morning, but with the bird feeders back out, the hedge and bushes were alive with Great tits, Blue tits, Dunnocks and House sparrows, while on the wires, swallows are massing to fly south for another year.

Jools watches films, and I take my phone upstairs to listen to podcasts, sitting in the back room. Only disturbed when Mulder comes up for attention, or maybe steal my seat.

The day is quiet, apart form the couple two doors down, whose grandkids come here to scream with delight, and their mother berates them. Schools should go back this week, and apart from the powered gardening equipment, it will be quiet.

I also sit on the patio, re-reading Jon's Orchid Summer book. His prose are a delight, as is the subject matter, and I myself played two small parts in the events it details.

So it goes.

Come the evening, there is football chat on the radio: how made the transfers have been this summer, and how much madder it would be on the last day of the window on Tuesday. Then Arsenal played at Villa, winning 1-0 in a tight game.

Time for bed, worn out after doing nothing, and taking all day to do it.