Autumn in the uk

Written by Lucy Simmonds (M.A. Romance Languages and Cultures)

For many people, especially those from or living in north-western Europe, this is their favourite time of year. The heat from summer has long since cooled off and our surroundings have lit up into sepia tones of oranges, browns and reds. As I look outside my window, I can see the trees’ leaves which are only slightly verdant with life. Now they are more of a rusty brown and golden yellow. Autumn is here. This time of year is often associated with going back to school or back to university. It’s also the season when Harry Potter and his chums board the Hogwarts Express! Perhaps you’ve just changed jobs or started an internship after a lazy and relaxed summer holiday. It’s when things get started again, pushed into gear and up and running. Maybe it’s also when people set themselves new goals as they try to navigate a new routine and timetable.

I’d be curious to know how others feel about autumn, but for me it’s extremely nostalgic! When the leaves begin to fall off the trees, one by one, floating gradually to the cold, wet ground, autumnal memories come dawdling back into my mind. I think of all the cosy mornings and evenings, making extra cups of tea, struggling to put a second pair of socks over my school tights, defrosting the car before our morning convoy to school. Upon seeing my friends in the corridor, we’d race to the one radiator and lean our bums and legs on it right up until the bell rang and we were ushered by prefects into our classrooms. During lessons we would count down the minutes until breaktime when we could play conkers. For anyone who doesn’t know, conkers is a very typical game in the UK! Children collect conkers (horse chestnut seeds) and soak them in vinegar. This softens the conker so that you can poke a hole through the middle using a skewer and thread some string through the middle. After tying knots on either side of the conker, children are ready to meet on the playground at breaktime and take it in turns to hit each other’s conker until one breaks. The winner has the strongest conker that defeats all the others and has won their game of conkers! I haven’t played conkers since my days at school but I can still see the collective joy on my school friends’ faces as we stood in the cold, swinging conkers on strings.

At Halloween in our village in the North West of England, my brothers, our friends and I would dress up in what we thought were the spookiest outfits ever created and patrol the streets. One by one, we’d approach our neighbours’ doors, hearts racing faster than our hyped-up-on-sugar minds, and ring the doorbell. One moment of silence, breaths held, and then suddenly the door would be ripped open by a 6-foot-tall werewolf, baring his claws and roaring at the top of his lungs. Our troop would scream out in terror and excitement, some even running away back to the safety of the lanterns on the street. The brave ones who stayed and summoned up the courage to utter the words “trick or treat!” would be rewarded sweets, chocolates and more by the werewolf. Even though I knew deep down that the werewolf was just Mr. Philips dressed up in a costume, in that moment, the eight-year-old me in a witch outfit was scared out of her wits.

The cosiest evening, of course, is Bonfire Night. Families and friends gather to celebrate Guy Faulk’s Night on the 5th of November, a day which celebrates the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. This is an opportunity for us to make a huge bonfire in the garden or even attend a local one often hosted in a farmer’s field. With a sparkler in one hand and a cuppa’ hot chocolate in the other, we warm ourselves by the fire and spend time with loved ones. Although the day has political origins, it’s now a perfect opportunity to get together with your nearest and dearest in your cosiest jumper, hat and gloves and celebrate.

What are your autumn traditions? We’d love to know!