Change is in the air - almost...

It is September, the Southern Hemisphere just rejoiced at the advent of Spring, so I assume we here in the Northern Hemisphere should have celebrated the advent of Autumn.

And yet, today was absolutely beautiful. Once the cloud cover of the morning had burnt away, we rejoiced at a truly beautiful day, with a rather warm and lovely temperature.
Ideal therefore to take a late evening cycle through Wimbledon Common...

What is happening is that the sun is setting much earlier now, so by 8 this evening the sun was starting to set over the last golfers on the Common Golf course. Despite this in other parts of the Common the sun managed to stay up just loing enough to show that Mother Nature, despite a Summery day, was of the opinion that Autum was arriving... Some trees are starting to change colour, their leaves having become a brown or red, the start of the Autumn colour change that will precede the mass leave disposal that happens every year...

And yes, London, that means just one thing.
Anytime soon the Tube will stop due to "leaves on the tracks"!

Spring Bank Holiday #1 : Family Day out

It's a Bank Holiday weekend.
Two things have changed this morning, meaning the weekend is looking really good.

Firstly, my sniffling cold (Man Flu) has finally appeared to abate and breathing can take place in the manner God intended it to.
And secondly, for the briefest of moments, the sun appears ot have returned from Winter vacation and we had blue skies and warm sun. It is a day that cannot be spent at home, and os I headed out.

It is amazing to think that just 10 miles from where I live you can find Claremont Landscaped gardens. It is a fantastic 49 acre site now maintained by the National Trust and simply put, just a wonderful green lung in the midst of a concrete world.

Claremont Gardens

So I spent a while walking around the lake and enjoying the thriving bird life. And being Spring, each family of birds appeared to have a whole team of new members, and each father seemed to be sprting a slightly puffed out chest as he proudly flaunted his new brood to envious onlookers.

It really was a family day out, as even the birds seemed to be enjoying the sunshine.