My favourite time of the year is autumn.
I love all the colours of the leaves; The reds, the browns, the oranges, the yellows and the golds. The sight of leaves scattered across the ground and tumbling through the air as the breeze knocks them off the trees.
In autumn, the air is filled with many wonderful smells: the smell of damp earth and wood, the smell of mushrooms that are springing up through the soil, the smell of autumnal vegetables like pumpkins and the smell of bonfire smoke and fireworks on bonfire night.
The 5th of November is bonfire night. Fireworks light up the skys after dark, causing millions of tiny sparks to descend upon the onlookers, vanishing just before they come within reach. Fires piled high with branches, boxes, leaves and anything dry are lit, sending a beacon of flames upwards accompanied by plumes of sharp smelling smoke that burns the eyes and stings the throat.
The food in autumn is warm and earthy in flavour. Just about anything made with pumpkin: pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin stew… Also this is the time for parkin, cinder toffee, toffee apples and of course, come Halloween, all the sweets and chocolate and spooky themed food one can think of.
Halloween, the night when millions of kids and adults dress up and spend the hours of darkness either moving from house to house collecting as many sweets as they can or going to loud, exciting parties. Some people even choose to go on trails and other Halloween experiences.
In autumn, the horse chestnuts drop their conkers and children pick them up along with the squirrels who start to make stashes of nuts. Animals begin to prepare for hibernation: hedgehogs taking up residence in piles of moulding leaves.
Then the cold starts to become apparent and big coats, hats, gloves and scarves can be seen on many passers by.
Frosts begin to settle and each morning the world has a crisp silence to it, the air sharp, breath becoming visible in clouds of steam. This change in the weather signals a change in the season: autumn is coming to a close and winter is just around the corner.
All photography my own.