Thursday 19 November
It’s apparent that, as we have slipped deeper into the autumn and winter, so the issues I face at work and play are harder to take.
There are obviously fewer daylight hours and the sun sitting lower in the sky means the lumin levels are much reduced. This oddly coincides with what I feel are problems that are harder to cope with and more intense in nature. I know that’s unrealistic and is illogical. But although a leaky roof or angry email can happen at any time of the year, my reaction to it may be different in the spring or summer compared to now.
My energy levels are low and my smile is not quite so bright as it normally is. We all know that we can’t prevent problems, but we can change how we react to them. And it is that that ultimately makes a problem big or small. There’s also not a great deal to celebrate, there isn’t much good news to get excited by.
I’ve discovered a news season too. For me there’s a phase in between Autumn and Winter. It’s very grey-brown in colour, mild-damp in climate, trees half in leaf and half fallen.
Winter as I remember it has shifted to well after Christmas in recent years. we will commonly get frost and snow in February, March and even April. Whereas I remember this happening from November to January and February. Global warming?
I need a name for this half-season.
The Bald Birder 
I can still vividly remember how gloomy it used to be traveling through East Anglia in November Jonathan, and it was muddy too, low light, cold, misty and flat. No undulation, no horizon and with a tractor in front spraying my windshield with muck.
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Perfectly described, Howard. But also beautiful in its own way. In autumn it dies back and in winter it sleeps. Readying itself for the triumphant spring yawn and stretch.
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