The day began with mist rolling in over the sea, but before long it turned to morning drizzle and on into a rainy afternoon; big, lazy raindrops falling in patches from the sky. Then as evening came the mist rolled in once more, cloaking everything in dampness and white. Here by the shores of the English Channel, this is how autumn begins.

Though it will return in patches over the coming month, brief flickers and shadows of July’s heat, the summer that was is now gone. It was a summer of travel and of dodging the rain, a summer of remembering the past and of making plans for the future. It held what might be my last RABIES, what may be my last summer in Galicia, and what almost certainly will be my last summer as an unmarried man.

So now, as the light dims and dies for another year, bring on harvest and Hallowe’en, bring on the howling winds and driving rain, bring on coats and inside-out umbrellas and mugs of warm cider by the fire. Soon it will be summer once more, and everything will be different.