isabelrogers.org

First day with both children back at school. One of them is already talking about what kind of Advent calendar they’d like.

Nights are drawing in, though not, as yet, getting any colder, so the mosquito with whom I appear to share a bedroom won’t be flying away from its nightly banquet any time soon. I have taken the sparkly purple nail polish off my toes. Summer is over.

Roll on proper autumn, with long walks, log fires, sloppy jumpers, thick socks, dark red wine and baked mushrooms. And cheese. Lots of cheese.

There is work to do. It glowers at me from my inbox. Time to get cracking and pretend I have a new term to start.

Things to remember remember the fifth change of season:

1. Ne’er put on the clout you cast back in May until this humidity has dissipated.

2. The pen is mightier than the very definite sword.

3. No man is an island. No woman is a continental shelf. I think that’s right, but all I remember from Geography is a bit of Australian sheep farming.

4. Better late than never for school, although after twenty minutes yelling ‘shoes! bag! games kit!’ in your child-free hallway you may prefer home schooling, when you can arrive after coffee and make the first lesson cake.

5. Cleanliness is next to godliness. Necessity is the mother of invention. Spotlessness is the niece of inspiration (thank you Billy Collins). Listlessness is the usurper cuckoo of inefficiency.

6. If it ain’t broke maybe spend the time you might have spent mending it to reappraise your grammatical skills.

I think we’ve all learned something here. Now get back to work.