We must have had the equinox by now, but following on from the revelations about VW cheating the North American diesel emissions test, actually there is no "equi", there have been about a million tonnes of extra NOX.
Quite a year for weather. Summer was warm, but was it windy? and never dry for too long. There has been a distinct smell of autumn about the weather for a couple of weeks and this morning was only 7 degrees centigrade as I left the house in a damp car on a fresh morning. The Hurst Castle camera showed the Isle of Wight in clear contrast to the cluster of cumulus that hung over it yesterday. The outlines were clear and the sky glowed, reflecting off the overfalls as they began to turn from flood to ebb.
The sun was low in the sky, as it was when I went home yesterday evening. Glaring off the window grime, side-lighting the landscape and its creatures. Ponies half of gold and half dark-horse, eyes glinting between searching browses of the verges.
Of the summer, a deal of business. Weekends of sailing, weeks of work. July's preparation for the New Forest Show, taxiing children. A strange year with a season ticket to A&E; broken bones, leaking lungs, operations and emergencies. Really, five hospitals, a dozen ECGs and probably an equal number of X-rays, four ambulances. How much chaos can two children cause? Even I have been to a hospital; only for a scheduled couple of physiotherapy appointments, but I think they must be the only actual treatment apart from antibiotics I've had since a tonsillectomy at age 6.
We have though had some beautiful days to make up for a few hard nights. The opportunity to sit out in the salt marshes after a day's sailing and hear the sea-fowl fly in to roost has been a wonderful experience and the mooring costs less than a beach-hut. To see the full performance of a setting star when the sky is fully half of the world and the only sound is the lapping of waves, the swoosh of wings and the flight calls of gulls is wonderous. We've slept onboard, but not enough.
So, we hope for a good few sailing days while the children are well and the the freeze holds off before the solstice.
