Dear Readers, in the interests of retaining my (limited) sanity, I am trying to go out for a brisk walk around the block at lunchtime, and it’s amazing what you can see in ten minutes, even in the relatively urban surroundings of East Finchley’s County Roads. This rowan is absolutely busting out with berries.

My poor old busted tree is looking very pretty in its autumn finery.

And look at this very friendly blue cat. She sometimes turns up in my back garden, but I have completely forgotten her name.

Someone has done such a lovely job of this front garden – previously it had two enormous conifers (Leylandii I suspect), but now it’s as cute as a button. There’s lots here for pollinators! I’m most impressed.

We’ve had a number of new trees planted, including this ginkgo, which looks just about ready to start turning butter-yellow.

But at the end of the day, it’s all about the leaves. Going for a walk every day means that I should be able to take real notice of the way that they’re changing, and it (almost) compensates for the way that the nights are drawing in.