Sunny Sunday

What a glorious autumn morning! I walked down to Yarm, as I usually do on Sunday morning, to go to church and my spirits were lifted at every corner it seemed. The early morning sun, a hint of mist, autumn colours, a squirrel eating an acorn - Keats knew what he was talking about when he wrote "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness". In Yarm High Street the Care for your Area Team were doing their usual Sunday morning clear up, but this time they had reinforcements because last night was the last evening of Yarm Fair. I don't really enjoy the Fair at the "adult" time of evening because I find the music that's played at every ride deafening, but I used to enjoy taking the children to the early evening sessions - quieter and great fun. Now I'm waiting for our grand-daughter to be old enough to take. I'm still impressed by how the huge rides fit into such compact wagons for transport, and at the other end of the scale the little horse-drawn caravans which are still used by some of the travellers. Now they're on their way to the next town and the next fair - they'll be back next year. One of the old traditions which lives on in the Borough, not liked by some but then we can't please all the people all of the time.
This afternoon I had to make time to get out into the garden and trim all the awkward bits off the holly and other shrubs so that they can go into the last of the Green Waste collection for this year. We compost most of the green waste in our garden and kitchen but holly twigs really don't go down well, nor laurel nor ivy nor buddleia nor any of the other shrubs which colonise our little front garden. Anything that's not pruned now will have to wait until next spring.