Drawing stumps on summer is always a sad moment
JUST as I welcome the arrival of summer on June 1, I lament its loss as August comes to an end. September 1 has those back-to-school connotations that have stayed with me since childhood. And that means the end of the holidays.
No more innocently riding my bike with my mates, playing football in the park and enjoying what, romantically at least, always seemed to be endless sunny days.
September brought change – and not of the good variety – and perhaps that is why, as we approach that time again this coming week, my mind has been turning toward slight sadness.
Today, for example, is my final cricket match of the season, meaning those team-mates I bond with so closely between April and now drift into the darkness of the winter like the setting sun.
As that final run is hit or that last wicket taken, what I know is the beer I’ll hopefully be supping to toast another victory will be the last one I will share with those friends for a while.
I noticed for the first time this week how mornings are darker as I wake up and go and put the kettle on.
And with the distinct lack of that warm yellow orb in the sky this week I’ve even started to feel the cold during my walk to the railway station. And I don’t tend to feel the cold. While all of this might sound slightly morose and perhaps not what you might want to read on a Saturday in August, I very much enjoy the onset of autumn and all that it brings.
For one, I cannot wait to turn up for the first time in 18 months and watch live football with my mates.
Just going through the turnstile, scaling the steps and seeing the pitch in front of me is something I am genuinely excited about.
No doubt it will only take five minutes for that first misplaced pass to set one of our number off groaning and deciding the new player who kicked it is “absolutely rubbish”.
But the usual suspect is a mate I’ve not seen since March 2020 so I might even forgive him for his eternal pessimism that he brings to the stand at the beginning of each season.
And anything has got to be better than paying £10 to sit on your own in your living room watching a suspect feed provided by the away side to get your football fix as I did for all of last season.
Having not been on holiday since May I am also looking forward to getting away with Mrs Naylor twice during the Autumn to recharge the batteries and hopefully see new and amazing sites.
We are both still nervous about flying and so will be staying in the UK but some much needed time off is not far away and that is another
reason to welcome the new
My late father-in-law used to say each season offered something new and varied and as the summer starts to draw to a close next week and the cricket bat gets packed away I shall remember that and welcome what the transition into winter brings me.
The cricket bat gets packed away and, symbolically, to me that sees summer draw to a close