Today I had time and any competitive spirit had evaporated with the entanglement now mangling my rear mech. My breath hung grey and still in front of me but despite the cold, sweat dripped from my forehead and carved silver stains onto my glasses. It was then that I first truly noticed. Autumn is coming!
The stinging nettles that lined my path and which, just a couple of days ago crowded in, green and threatening, now seemed old, tired and just a little sad. They bent down tinged with brown at the edges and covered in holes. Clearly the caterpillars or snails no longer feared their sting and were gorging themselves on the last of the green. The nettles weren’t the only thing I noticed, the path which so recently had been sandy and loose was now firmer, held tighter by the addition of a little rain and dew. Instead of the nettles threatening me with a sharp sting, the now glistening, roots threatened worse if I did not pay attention to them.
As I began to cool and feel the chill air on my damp back, I cleared the stick and got moving again but now more slowly, more aware of the slight changes that had occurred in my forest. The golden brown of the beech litter was beginning to hide the rocks and roots, the trees still looked green from underneath their still shady canopy, but other signs were there. Beech nuts crunched under my wheels and the wild flowers of summer were no longer to be seen. When had they disappeared, they were here a few days ago... weren’t they? When did that happen? The far side of the valley was already burning copper around its edges. The green giving way in great waves to yellow and brown. Looking back at the forest I had just left, it struck me. Inside the forest was still green, but looking at it from the outside it had begun to turn, it had really begun to change. Autumn is coming!
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