EARLY SUMMER AND THE SIX SEASONS

I really like this time of year. The horse chestnuts are in blossom and seeing the white candles and green leaves reminds me of summer days on The Field, playing rounders and kicking a football about.

There's a kind of wild, warm uncertain breeze, ruffling the trees, making you question whether or not you need a coat. Then there's the young sunshine, gathering just enough strength to force a shadow. It's hopeful, at least.

I've thought for a while now that there ought to be more than four seasons.

Back in the Autumn I split the long end of the year into what I called Keats's Fall and Hood's Autumn, after two famous poems. I was trying to delineate the boundary between mellow fruitfulness and soggy drizzle and as it happens, I think that switch happens somewhere at the end of October.

But, thinking it over today in the buzzing air of May, there might be more than one type of summer too.

If so, then this 'darling buds of May' season we're in at the moment is definitely Early Summer. Early Summer begins with the bluebells and ends with the school holidays, and I love it - everything really comes to life. The only downside is the hay fever it naturally brings with it. Thankfully that hasn't started for me yet - although it's only a matter of time before the grass starts getting ideas.

Late Summer then, would start at the end of July and last right up to Keats's Fall in mid-September. It's characterised by heatwaves, downpours, browned grass and long, lazy afternoons.

It's an interesting theory. It means that there are six seasons, rather than four. And you could probably split them further if you thought about it too much.

The whole thing works like this I think:

Winter: Christmas to Snowdrops (8 weeks)

Spring: Snowdrops to Bluebells (6 weeks)

Early Summer: Bluebells to Holidays (12 weeks)

Late Summer: Holidays to Harvest (10 weeks)

Keats's Fall: Harvest to Halloween (6 weeks)

Hood's Autumn: Halloween to Christmas (8 weeks)

Of course in this country, you could probably argue that the season changes daily, and perhaps even more frequently than that. It wasn't that long ago after all, that we were sheltering from hail, and listening to reports of snow in Oxford. Today the sun is beaming and the world is as bright as ever it was.

Well, whatever the season, I really quite like this pre-hay-fever, pre-heatwave, warmth and uncertainty. Even if I can't work out whether I need a coat or not.