Actually autumn

It’s actually autumn, finally fall, here in New Zealand. Sure, we’re in the middle of the season, but the night temperatures started stopping recently, and at 3am yesterday (Sunday) morning, we turned the clocks back one hour to New Zealand Standard Time (NZST). Some people are happy about all that. Others are not. We go through that difference of opinion every time the seasons or the clocks change—especially the clocks. Always.

Last week, the morning temperatures were cooler pretty much every day. The first day I noticed, it was 15 degrees, then the next day 14, and 12 on the last day I noticed. Today it was 9 (that’s 59F, 47.2F, 53.6F, and 48,2F, respectively). Obviously those aren’t very cold temperatures, especially when compared to what’s coming in winter, but it’s the coldest morning temperatures we’ve had since spring. And, it’s a good sign that Daylight Saving Time had run out of reasons to hang around—which supposes it had valid reasons before, something not everyone believes.

Aside from the cooler morning temperatures, autumn isn’t especially visible in Auckland. We don’t have all that many trees that drop their leaves for winter, and few of those that do change colours (partly because we don’t get frosts, if any, until winter). So, it’s still kinda like summer, but cooler in the mornings and with fewer hours of daylight.

I don’t mind autumn as such, though I don’t like the fact it means summer is over and winter is fast approaching. But because of that, autumn is my second-least favourite season in Auckland. My rank, as should be obvious by now, is 1. Summer, 2. Spring, 3. Autumn, and dead last, 4. Winter. As I often say, it’s not the fact that other places have relatively worse versions of our disliked seasons (some have better versions, too…), it’s that they’re the ones we least like among what we know and live through every year.

Still, there are benefits to autumn and winter in Auckland. The cooler temperatures mean that plants don’t grow as fast, and that means that lawns don’t need mowing as much and weeds don’t grow as fast. So, it’s possible to get weeds under control to an extent not really possible in summer (without a lot of time and work). The higher rainfall means the lawns look lush and green (when they’re not soggy like a saturated sponge, of course). But, it’s also sometimes quite cold (by our standards), so we admire the lush lawns through the windows while we stay warm and dry inside. Well, that’s what I do, anyway.

New Zealand goes through all this again at 2am on Sunday, September 29, when we set our clocks forward one hour. Yippee. Some people will be happy about all that. Others will not be. We go through that difference of opinion every time the seasons or the clocks change—especially the clocks. Always.

I took the photo of fallen leaves on the March Equinox, something I didn't get a chance to blog about at the time. It's actually of ordinary fallen leaves below some bushes (including a camellia, which loves to drop leaves year round). There are no trees anywhere near us that drop their leaves in autumn.