Autumnal tredpidation

Autumn has definitely arrived. In the past couple of days I've been buffeted by wind and rain, mixed in with spells of glorious sunshine and bright blue sky, and this morning I picked up my first conker of the season. It was sat on the pavement looking incongruously shiny on the grey concrete and I couldn't resist picking it up and slipping it in my pocket. It'll no doubt stay there for the next few weeks until it loses its shine and finally shrivels up.

For me, autumn always seems to be a time of dread. I truly hate winter - I've always suffered from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and find the winter months a struggle. The cold and damp also exacerbate my aches and pains, adding to my general grouchiness. So every year around this time, I determine to head off and sit out the worst of winter in warmer climes.

One year I had quite advanced discussions with an old friend who lives in New York about a plan in which both of us would spend 2 or 3 months in Buenos Aires, sharing a flat, taking laptops to work from, learning Spanish and perhaps a bit of tango too. Somehow, we've never quite got round to organising it though.

This year I had thought of a couple of months in Australia. Quite a few friends seem to have emigrated that way recently, so again, I'd considered heading South with my laptop to work from the other side of the world in the sunshine through the worst of the British winter. And when the cost of that worked out to be rather prohibitive, I toyed with the idea of renting an apartment somewhere in the Med instead through October to at least catch a last dose of late sun. I'm still mulling over the last option, but haven't quite found the right spot at the right price yet.