Of preparation: hard hats and chocolate

Autumn has arrived. The signs of its approach began with the staccato fall of acorns on the shed roof, sounding very much like gunfire. Our wardrobe at this time of year should include a hardhat; acorns are tiny and cute looking, but they pack a wallop when they land on your head from a great height at high velocity. An acorn-shaped hole drilled from cranium to gullet is not the look you want this season, so wear the hardhat.

Squirrels and chipmunks are frantically at work, eager to hide away as much food as they can find for winter survival. By all accounts we are in for a long winter. This suggests to me that we too, should be finding and burying as much food as we can for the winter months ahead. Of course, what that looks like for people is buying tinned soup and jars of peanut butter for the pantry. Don’t forget the chocolate; it could very well be the difference between surviving the Long Dark, and curling into a pallid ball of defeat sometime around January 17th.

Sheep are busy filling in their winter coats, getting woollier by the day. Following their lead, this is the time of year to gradually increase the thickness of our environmental protection system (aka clothing). We begin by adding layers: from t-shirt to t-shirt and light sweater, to t-shirt and heavy sweater over thermal unmentionables with a jaunty scarf and cap topped with the latest technology on offer to fend off the deadly elements. Never mind your silhouette: better to be round but warm than lean and frozen. In fact, the more layers you wear, the warmer you will be: you will no doubt become exhausted from putting on all that gear that you will decide to stay indoors with your lovely central heating and have some hot chocolate.

Birds are very clever: they are beginning the long trek south. Most of us don’t have the luxury of pulling up stakes for half of every year in search of warmer climes, so we do what we can to cope. This may include a brief holiday on a hot sandy beach, or a package of 10 trips to the tanning salon. My preference is for borrowing travel videos from the library: South of France, Italy, Andalucía; and beautifully illustrated cookbooks: David Rocco’s Dolce Vita is a superb source of culinary inspiration and sun-drenched day dreams. We may not be able to fly south like the birds, but imagination can take us anywhere.

The Long Dark is some way off giving us time to prepare. In the meantime, we still have occasional flip flop days ahead with blue skies and sunshine. Like the wise creatures in nature, we must take advantage of those days, delighting in them when they come and packing away the memories for the quiet days of winter.