The Twilight Samurai

One can get a wonderful feeling of spaciousness in a supermarket car park. In the particular Tesco car park I was walking through early yesterday evening, I could see for miles across the city as twilight settled in, the lights came on, and a few cold wisps of air hinted at the coming of winter.

It was always this time of year that I seemed to start something new. I started all my college courses in autumn, University as well, and three of the five jobs I ever had (the other two started in August). My birthday is also at the end of September, so in another sense the season is the beginning of a new year for me.

This year, I am starting a new life in South Korea, but for once I find myself not thinking of beginnings, but of endings. It is the end of everything I've built up in the UK, perhaps of everything I've done, and now all my possessions have to be disposed of, or packed away like my memories to remain unused until I return - if I return. And while I may come back, even for a few years, it seems the longer term future lies elsewhere, so I'm not sure it will ever feel like home again.

Autumn carries with it the promise of winter, with its snowfalls and the bright lights of Christmas shopping, and I will miss it this year.