ALL HALLOWS

It's Hood's Autumn* again. I went out for lunch and wandered round the lake. Gusts of freezing wind picked up dry, crispy leaves and span them in the air. The pathways were carpeted with fresh-fallen foliage, and the trees shivered beneath the grey sky.

And so we hurtle towards November. But not of course, before we get through Halloween... and for some reason, the Big Cheeses have scheduled a company meeting on the day itself this year.

"I have a great incentive to get people to dress up on thursday in the office," wrote a colleague with a bit of influence, "they get seat priority in the meeting room and get food first."

I really object to being shown the latest sales figures by Count Dracula. It just seems so silly! And there's no evil worse than one that dresses up as silly. We'd better hope there are no serious HR violations on the day, or someone's being given their P45 by a giant spider and a Frankenstein's monster - and you've got to admit it's bad enough already.

It also seems ghastly to have to sit at the back of a meeting and be relegated to the crumbs, just because you object to the celebration of all things evil. How's that fair?

I think this year, instead of whining about how I don't like the sinister undercurrent beneath the forced fun, I might just focus on All Saints' Day instead, which is the day after. Perhaps next Friday I'll dress up as Francis of Assisi, or St Paul. Or maybe I'll just be myself.

Other than the demons of All Hallows Eve, I actually quite like this time of year. And Hood's Autumn it might be, but at least it's stopped raining, like it did all through Keats's season. There's a cold dryness to the air that's quite refreshing. And it reminds me that once we get past the end of October, everything rushes delightfully towards Christmastime. And that's something to look forward to.



*A while ago, I realised that Autumn had always felt like two seasons rather than one: Keats's Autumn (the season of mists and  'mellow fruitfulness' and Hood's Autumn (No!)). I definitely prefer the first one, though the soggy leaf-mulch of the second also has its charm I guess. At least it does from indoors, anyway.