That means going round by the station, past the book-selling Jehovah's Witnesses, through the abandoned Pepsico car park and out on the far side of the lake.
Why I haven't gone that way before, I don't know. There's something bleak and beautiful about the abandoned Pepsico car park. My boots clacked across the concrete as I walked around the building - where hundreds of people once would have been streaming in with their rucksacks and briefcases, there was nobody. No shiny cars, no high heels, no umbrellas - just a mothballed building and an empty car park.
And me walking through the middle of it thinking about I Am Legend.
Anyway, as I rounded the Pepsico Building, I was stopped in my tracks - by Autumn.
There was a carpet of leaves, crunchy, yellow, crispy and brown, shaken from the shivering trees. The whole scene was lit up by the morning sunlight, and it was breathtaking. I felt as though I was walking through a painting.
It was then that I heard, or rather felt a voice say,
"Everything the light touches."
That'll be Mufasa again, reaching out through my memory of The Lion King. I looked it up on IMDb.
'Everything the light touches... is our kingdom,' says the Great Lion to Simba, surveying the morning sunlight. It's a powerful message.
As I bent down to take the photograph, it suddenly occurred to me that this is exactly how I want to think about this time of year. Whatever the light touches...
In a few days it will be Halloween and the rest of the office will be dressing up as ghouls and zombies and carving pumpkins in the training room. There are nights out and competitions and spooky, fun events planned which are hard to get out of. There's a lot of pressure...
"Oh come on, it's only harmless fun," they say. I don't think it is. I don't think it's touched by light, and I don't want to have anything to do with it.
Somehow, a carpet of leaves and the golden paintbrush of the early morning sunshine had reminded me of the Great Lion and the kingdom that belongs to me.
Simba: Dad?
Mufasa: Hmmm?
Simba: We're pals, right?
Mufasa: Right.
Simba: And we'll always be together, right?
Mufasa: Simba, let me tell you something my father told me. Look at the stars. The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars.
Simba: Really?
Mufasa: Yes. So whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you. And so I will I.
I do love The Lion King.
As I bent down to take the photograph, it suddenly occurred to me that this is exactly how I want to think about this time of year. Whatever the light touches...
In a few days it will be Halloween and the rest of the office will be dressing up as ghouls and zombies and carving pumpkins in the training room. There are nights out and competitions and spooky, fun events planned which are hard to get out of. There's a lot of pressure...
"Oh come on, it's only harmless fun," they say. I don't think it is. I don't think it's touched by light, and I don't want to have anything to do with it.
Somehow, a carpet of leaves and the golden paintbrush of the early morning sunshine had reminded me of the Great Lion and the kingdom that belongs to me.
Simba: Dad?
Mufasa: Hmmm?
Simba: We're pals, right?
Mufasa: Right.
Simba: And we'll always be together, right?
Mufasa: Simba, let me tell you something my father told me. Look at the stars. The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars.
Simba: Really?
Mufasa: Yes. So whenever you feel alone, just remember that those kings will always be there to guide you. And so I will I.
I do love The Lion King.
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