An Indian Summer

VOCABULARY

As I look out of the window at the unbelievable autumn colours, I start to plan what I am going to do when I have finished work. In Salzburg, and indeed many parts of Austria, we don’t need to go far to be hiking in paradise and, if you are lucky enough to be able to go during the week, it is amazing. Whether you choose to hike up one of the many mountains surrounding the city or around one of the incredible lakes in the Salzkammergut region, you can’t help but feel alive .Ido,of course, have a bit of a guilty conscience when my sister calls me from England to tell me that people who live on the coast are battling hurricane Ophelia, which has wreaked havoc in northern parts of Britain and has killed three people in Ireland. Ophelia has caused a lot of damage and people are being warned to stay at home to avoid flying debris, such as tiles blown from roofs or branches from trees. Ophelia also caused a strange phenomenon, last Monday, when the sky over London turned red, due to the dust particles it had collected from southern Europe and Africa.

I also feel a bit guilty that I have hardly done any housework for the past week. The pile of ironing resembles Mount Everest and the spiders are sitting smugly in their webs knowing that, as long as the temperature keeps hitting 25 degrees, I will not get the vacuum cleaner out and they are safe. However, even I know that this cannot go on forever and, as we approach the end of October, I want to make the most of it. The meteorologists have predicted rain for this weekend, so we have to brace ourselves for that.

Sitting on my balcony soaking up the last few rays of sunshine, has somehow made me feel that I am cheating the weather. October feels like spring or even summer. The words on everyone’s lips are "Indian summer" – a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather which follows the real summer. I think that this name describes the beautiful, warm sunny days, when the leaves on the trees are golden and red, much better than "Altweibersommer" (old wives’ summer). No one really knows where the term Indian summer originates from. The first reference to it was found in American literature, "Letters from an American Farmer", in 1778. Some suggest that it was a period when Native American peoples harvested their crops. Wherever the name comes from, I can only say that it feels just great and has kept the awful foggy weather away, for a few more days.

Even if you are exhausted after a day in the office, it is really worth making the effort to go for a walk along the Hellbrunner Allee, in Salzburg, for example. The golden leaves on the trees are a mass of colour and a sight for sore eyes. I did this last Monday and as I approached the park to try and find some chestnuts, for my autumn display, I realised that the children had beaten me to it. In England, we call the chestnuts that fall off the horse chestnut trees, "conkers". The children collect them to play a game, called "conkers". The game is played by two players, each with a conker threaded onto a piece of string: they take it in turns, striking each other’s conker until one breaks. It is a bit like "Eierpecken", at Easter, but we take this custom quite seriously, and there are even National Conker Championships, all over Britain.

We really should take advantage of these beautiful days as November will soon be upon us. Then we have to turn back the clocks on Sunday, October 29, making the days shorter and darker. Then there is Halloween (which you either love or hate) immediately followed by All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day. If that isn’t depressing enough, there are only 64 days until Christmas! in a row – hintereinander indeed – in der Tat to hike – wandern to surround – umgeben to feel alive – sich lebendig fühlen guilty conscience – schlechtes Gewissen to battle sth. – mit etw. kämpfen to wreak havoc – ein Chaos anrichten damage – Sachschaden to avoid – vermeiden flying debris – herumfliegende Trümmer tiles – Dachziegel dust particles – Staubkörner a pile of ironing – ein Berg Bügelwäsche to resemble – ähneln smugly – selbstgefällig web – Spinnwebe to make the most of sth. – etw. ausnützen to brace oneself – sich wappnen to soak up the sun – Sonne tanken to cheat the weather – dem Wetter ein Schnippchen schlagen unseasonable – für die Jahreszeit ungewöhnlich to describe – beschreiben leaves – Blätter term – Ausdruck to originate – herstammen reference – Bezug to suggest – vorschlagen peoples – Völker to harvest – ernten crop – Ernte exhausted – erschöpft a sight for sore eyes – eine Augenweide to beat sbd. to it – jmd. zuvorkommen to thread – auffädeln to take it in turns – sich abwechseln to strike – schlagen to take advantage – ausnutzen