Signs of Autumn

I knew the air was colder the moment I woke this morning - and I had slept better because of it. Outside, it was the same pale grey of the last few mornings, and when I stuck my head out of the bedroom window it felt positively chilly. It wasn't until I was out - getting refills for my laundry liquid bottles, which weighed a ton in my rucksack - that the sun suddenly appeared, so that I thought I might expire as I trudged up the steep hill from the town, already far too hot in a sweatshirt ...

Today's success story was my girning phone call to the bank. A couple of days ago they'd sent me an email which led me to believe that I'd inadvertently agreed to go paper-free with my banking. (Lest you judge me for being a climate-wrecking Luddite, I should explain that while it's all very well and fine enjoying the utter convenience of online banking when you have all your marbles - and I haven't noticed too many of mine on the ground yet - I cannot imagine what you'd do if, in your declining years, you could no longer remember your password, were no longer sufficiently deft to use your phone with confidence (so no easy facial recognition would help there) and so couldn't remember what accounts you might have - and what about your next of kin when you pop your clogs?) Anyway, I hadn't agreed, and I wanted to find out what was going on.

It didn't take long for the pleasant chap on the phone to remember that he too had had such a mail, although as he himself was already totally online it didn't bother him. He checked it - and agreed with me that it was entirely misleading. Without going into details, he filed a complaint in my name and not only arranged for compensation but also refunded the money I'd spent on the phone call (on my mobile, because it's quicker to establish identity). I wonder if I should offer my services as a Plain English consultant?

My photo comes from the afternoon's walk in (once again) Benmore Gardens. (We are somewhat limited by Himself's back these days). In the week since our last visit, the rowan berries have turned the most amazingly vibrant red, and the heather is wonderfully lush and alive with bees. I've included this bit of tree in a collage before, but today, with the blue sky behind it, and that randomly autumnal patch of foliage, it demanded more attention. Despite the alarming number of cars in the car park, the gardens didn't feel busy and indeed had emptied by the time we were finished. We heard and then saw a lone red squirrel on the ground under some tall trees - tiny feet scampering through dead leaves - and a pale pigeon wandering in the lush grass under the giant redwoods. We met a wonderfully variegated little family at the top of the hill - charming African father, Spanish mother, beautiful little boy, enigmatic silent older man - and paused to chat about the difficulties of living in Dunoon if you have to work on The Far Side, from whence the family had come for the day.

This would normally be the first day of Cowal Games weekend, but it's been cancelled again this year. There are to be some happenings, I believe, tonight and tomorrow, but so far there is little noise in the town, over which the dwindling moon rose a dull red. I shall post an extra of the moon, just because ...