Towards Autumn

This week was the first sign that summer will soon be left behind. Though I hated winter when I arrived in Sydney, autumn and winter now count as my favourite seasons. Even for someone rich in melanin like me, the summers here are intense and at times unpleasant. Yet Australian tourism will have you believe that this is the best time of the year and what's more it lasts year round. Luckily it doesn't.

The Big Wet, Skyline, Strathfield: Shiv Moulee

Autumn and winter in Sydney are mild in comparison to their northern counterparts. In spite of this, you see the familiar patterns of chilly days and nights, rain, the slow shedding of leaves, darker wardrobes, the steam from the soups of eating holes and the slow closing of the city into itself. In any event, the muting of the million watt light of the Australian summer brings a romance to the city, its dingy streets seem much improved by both wind and rain. Similarly the beaches are no longer rows of glistening bodies, the sun a vertical ray boring through your clothes. In lovely contrast is the beach at Bronte on a cold and rainy day, the sea in turmoil with a few brave souls plunged in its icy waters.

It will be the end of March before we have anything close to autumnal days yet I feel my mood much improved at its approaching.