After Hallowe'en

Hallowe'en is not such a big deal in England as in some other parts of the world, but there are of course always those who will party for whatever reason, and also those who will try and make a profit from it!

I saw some teenagers in startling fancy dress on their way to a party, but no children came knocking at the door for trick or treat.

Next morning I found this survivor from the night's shenanigans lying forlornly in the fallen leaves.

Windy

The beginning of November was WINDY with occasional breaks in the cloud allowing sunny periods. How can you capture the wind in a still picture? I went out to try.

Hand-held camera with a nice slow shutter speed showing the movement of the wind-tossed leaves, gave a pleasing result.

It's amazing how long you have to wait for that big gust of wind, even on windy days. It's probably about as long as it takes to let the breeze die down on a still day when I'm crouching to take close-ups of flowers.

Wind in the willows....along the riverbank.

And blowing the reeds and grasses. But the wind soon brings clouds and rain, which makes for very different photographs....


Wet

All that wind brought down a lot of leaves which are rapidly turning to mush after the rain. But before they lose their individual identities there's a brief period when their colours sing out brightly in the early morning gloom.

There are also a surprising number of leaves hanging on despite what the weather does.

Even the occasional flower is still blooming in the village gardens.

A lone leaf on the rain-jewelled grass. 

There's a good crop of berries in the hedgerows, a waiting feast for the birds that come to pass the winter here, as well as those who choose to stay and populate our woodlands and hedgerows.

So that's what it looks like here in this first week of November.

Tonight is of course Guy Fawkes night and there is the usual huge firework display on Midsummer Common in Cambridge. I used to have the "pleasure" of going there with groups of wheelchair-using children from the school where I worked, till the crowds got so large that we had to look for smaller events elsewhere. And I doubt I'll be going out tonight, now that I've retired, as the rainy weather is set to continue.

Just to finish on a more cheerful note:

One of the first alternative firework displays we investigated, when the big event in Cambridge became too big for comfort, was at a nearby Army base. I phoned up to check that it would be suitable. I asked if the site was wheelchair accessible and was put through to the Commanding Officer. "What?" he said. Then after a little thought which seemed to indicate that it had never crossed his mind, "Yes, I suppose it is. Why not?" When we arrived at the gates we were met by two young squaddies who told us to follow them past the other cars queueing for the car park. They ran ahead of us, a distance of a good half mile, and took us to a prime spot where there was a hastily painted sign "Disabled Parking". We enjoyed a superb display at the end of which we were offered another escort to the gate.


Take care.