Changing seasons

This week the first "To let to students" signs have appeared in the street. These used to be a herald of summer, like the first cuckoo. The university briefly enforced a ban on advertising before the Easter break. But times are hard and landlords are desperate; last year this part of the city was bristling with notice boards by very early spring, and this year it's earlier yet. These earliest blooms, like crocuses, are a rich shade of purple ('palatinate purple', a subtle suggestion of alignment with the University...) Ah, don't mind me, I'm just grouchy: I hate this insistence that only students need apply, it leaves me feeling that I, as a permanent resident, am the interloper, the cuckoo in the nest.

The autumn leaves have peaked. There are still plenty of bright golds and russets, but there are more and more bare branches, too. A week or so ago I noticed a couple of trees just down the hill, one all in lemon-yellow and the other all vivid scarlet framed against it. By the time I reached them with a camera, they had lost just enough leaves that the impact was gone - and today they were bare branches.

There were baked goods at the Graphic Novels group last night. This is not unprecedented, but last night's offering was both seasonal and comics-related: to celebrate the publication of Hector Plasm: Totentanz (and All Souls' Day, only a little late) our very own Steven Finch, who lettered and designed the comic, baked us pan de mûk;erto, following the recipe in the comic. How cool is that? Also, the pan de mûk;erto was very good. But since we've eaten it all, here's Hector versus the Danse Macabre.

And the Christmas decorations are up in Newcastle, great swags of white which I suppose represent snow. I'm told that Fenwicks' Christmas window has been installed, too, but I try to avoid that...