winter drawers on

[ramtops]

we have returned from four days in Welsh Wales, at geoffcampbell's inestimable annual Summer Camp - more on that story later.

and in those four days, the first signs of autumn have arrived. Looking out of the windows both front and back of the house, the light is diffferent; the sun is in a different place in the sky at getting-up time, and there's the merest hint of a crispness to the air mornings and evenings.

I love autumn - it'll soon be time for long walks, kicking leaves and watching the faint puffs of your own breath, coming home to mugs of steaming tea and glasses of restorative Bushmills.

must go out and buy some spring bulbs in the next couple of weeks.