Walking in the rain

Shortly before lunchtime the morning's heavy rain had eased to fine but persistent drizzle, and I realised that if I wanted to walk in daylight today, I must go immediately. It was grey and miserable, with misty hilltops, low cloud and poor light, but not having walked round the village in daylight for a week or more, I was surprised to see how much colour is still on the trees. They lost a lot of leaves very early because of the draught, and by the end of August the ground was covered with brown, shrivelled leaves; yet those that remained stayed green for longer than usual, perhaps compensating for the lost photosynthesis, and still did not all fall as they slowly turned to gold. Now the footpaths and gutters are covered with wet, decaying leaves, but a lot of the trees are still golden and orange and today the colours seemed to shine through the gloom.This is the avenue, my main route into the village. The school field is behind its railings on the right, and the triangle, our village green, on the left. There were other glorious trees too, but a lot of today's photos seemed a little blurry, from mist or camera shake in the low light.

This evening I've had a long overdue chat online with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew. I don't know why we don't do it more often when it's so easy.