One thing which will stand out for me about the autumn of 2013 will be the wonderful autumnal colours in the countryside, which have lasted far longer than usual because of our mild weather thus far. Writing this as we head into the deep winter, the landscape in my part of the South West remains absolutely stunning. Last night as I walked back to the car a strong wind had picked up along with some light rain. That combination was enough to blow the less secure autumn leaves off into the road, as a result I walked through the streets of Clifton under a confetti of bronzed leaves raining down on me. I tried a few photographs but the light wasn't good enough and really it needed a video to fully appreciate the beauty in those abscission layer dropped leaves.
Moments like that are magical. As Robert Browning said "Autumn wins you best by its mute appeal to sympathy for its decay" And this morning as I awoke in the darkness before dawn I feared that the weather as it turns much colder this week would provide the death-knell of the autumnal colours I have loved for many weeks. It was not to be, my fears of a grey and windswept landscape were put to bed. If anything the countryside was even more brilliant in the sunshine of this winter's day. It looked more stunning; a carpet of gold sheathed the streets as I walked, the blues of skies and sunlight shimmering the golden leaves remaining on many a tree.
To remind myself of this glorious day then a photograph of the Ginkgo tree (Ginkgo bilbao) in the BBC carpark. Here it stands each autumnal, a fossilised relic of a long forgotten age, a relic too of the Victorian garden which once covered this spot before a carpark covered it. Here shedding its glorious autumnal colours into my life its leaves fall onto the tarmac where they will remain before being tidied away. When this tree evolved, dinosaurs ruled the world, a time before humans were even thought about. A sobering thought as we contemplate the sympathy of decay.
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