Backpack Storybook

London, United Kingdom - If there's any good to come of England's slow, inevitable march into winter, I suppose I would reluctantly suggest that the change of seasons here is pretty spectacular.

The enormous trees in the common up the road from our house have finally turned yellow, orange and red after a summer of stunning deep green.

I made myself get out of bed early on Saturday morning (it was still dark at 7am) put on a couple of layers, my gloves, jacket, mask and helmet and cycled up the hill to shoot a few frames of the colours of autumn.

It won't be long before they lose all their leaves and go back to resembling the skeletal trees that we saw when we first arrived in London almost 12 months ago.

Back then in late January, Jacq and I cauught the early morning train from Heathrow into the city and sat staring out the windows at a place shivering in the frost. For miles there wasn't a tree with leaves. A far cry from tropics of Thailand we had just left.

Anyway, it's not too cold just yet. Last week in early October I was able to ride about during the day in just shorts and t shirt. This week its gotten a lot colder but still bearable at around 15C during the day and about 5C at night.

Right now I'm on the hunt for warm clothes. This winter I don't care what it costs, I'm going to be warm. A proper winter jacket, beanie, scarf, thermals and gloves are on the list.

I mean, I've moved on since last winter, when I wore socks on my hands for a couple of weeks because I didn't have gloves.

Labels: UK