Indian summer

There's a man who lives in the house next door who has been striking up a bonfire every night for the past week or so. The tinder crackles pleasingly, the smoke smells delicious and, at dinner times, Samuel and I have had the perfect, cosy view of the flames from our kitchen window. I've been telling Samuel all about bonfires while I shovel hearty seasonal grub into his mouth. I even caught myself making up stories about how the man is burning evidence - bodies even - under the guise of garden waste disposal. Then I stopped myself as I realised that a ten-month-old probably wasn't the right audience for such gruesome theories.

Anyway, I digress. The point of my story is that although bonfire man is fully engaged in autumnal activities, he's also sporting a t-shirt outdoors on October evenings. The weather has been glorious for this time of year but I hear that the temperature is set to plummet from tonight and the season will begin in earnest. As such, I'm really pleased that we managed to make the most of summer's final fling this past weekend. 

Little Sis was down from Manchester for work so she took full advantage and spent a few days with her favourite nephew. Samuel was thrilled to see her. We pootled around parks collecting bags full of conkers for Little Sis's flat (they're a well-known spider deterrent, and I'm told that there's a big spider problem in Chorlton). We entertained Granny Pat on Saturday afternoon and giggled as Samuel danced and bounced until none of us had the energy to dance and bounce with him anymore. And then on Sunday we took a scorching walk to Dulwich where we all ate Sunday lunch in a sunny beer garden and kept  incredulously repeating, 'this is October?!'

I wouldn't have thought we'll be seeing a beer garden again until next spring, but I'm pretty sure we'll be seeing bonfire man again tonight. Perhaps in a jumper.