There are many things about life and living in the UK that it seems, even after eight years, that I will just never get on board with. There are things that make me realise painfully, that this is not home. (Home isn’t home any more either, but at least it’s familiar.) But there is something I have in the UK that I do not have in South Africa, and that is an immense freedom.  I realised that again today as Ameli and I walked along a canal and we took in and loved our environment.

If money was no object for me, I would spend January, February, March and April in South Africa, and May, June and November and December each year in England, because Spring is the most beautiful in England, and Autumn is hard to compare to anywhere else I’ve been.

Today I remembered my love for Autumn in England and for the freedom to be without fear …

We went for a walk along the canal
We went for a stroll along the canal...
Watching the ducks
... where we stopped often...
ladybird
... to observe the wildlife...
examining a spider
...and get up close with the spiders and insects...
smelling the flowers
...and to really smell the flowers...
exploration
... and explore our world as we go...
...then stopping to share a well-earned hot chocolate....

…. before heading home for a two-hour nap.

These are the great moments. The ones I don’t want to take for granted.

 

13 Comments

Autumn in England

  1. I have lived in the UK for 15 years, and I agree with your ideal of circling the world to experience the seasons at their best. For me though, autumn in the UK is difficult, because I grew up in southern Canada where autumn is spectacular, the drop in temperature blessed after a hot and humid summer. I would go to Toronto for October – but I would certainly spend springtime in the UK. I didn’t realise what spring WAS until I came here – in Toronto it’s just ‘the wet and muddy months’. Your walk photos are inspiring though. I’m resolved to take my baby out walking tomorrow, even if just in Regent’s Park!

    1. @Stephanie, Oh dear Stephanie! Now you’ve gone and done it. I’m going to have to visit Canada in the autumn now!! Although Somerset is definitely high on my list of most beautiful places in Autumn πŸ˜‰

      Enjoy Regent’s Park! I have some gorgeous photos of my 3 month old in the leaves in a park in South London – although an elderly couple who saw me ‘burying’ her under the leaves were disturbed that I was abandoning my baby with snow fall predicted, so perhaps set up your camera first!! πŸ˜‰

  2. I can’t believe how similar our photos are. I just took a ton of pictures today, in Michigan, that look almost exactly the same! We didn’t do the hot chocolate, though – BUT, we’ll be doing it the next time, for sure!

  3. That photo of Kyra with her hot chocolate is gorgeous! I completely understand the dream of being able to split time between two parts of the world. As much as I love the year round warmth we have now, I really miss autumn on the US mainland!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.