Autumn is here!!! This is my time of year. This is the time when the weather you expect is the weather you actually get. There are gigs everywhere to go to (so many gigs not enough time or money). I’m not doing the whole “Oh Emm Gee! PSL (otherwise known as a Pumpkin Spice Latte) is totally available rn. Yaaaassss!” How about no… Issue 1: I don’t drink coffee so we’ve already got a problem there. Issue 2: The spice part of a pumpkin spice latte includes cinnamon and I don’t want to be physically ill because of it so….yeah. Anyhoo, Autumn is here and I adore this season so I’m hoping to help more of you lovely readers to Fall in love with Autumn (get it?). What’s so great about summer? You burn. Or worse, you miss it all by being stuck indoors at work. And if you like standing in the cold, slowly losing the feeling in your toes; winter is great. Plus, winter in Ireland usually just means rain because it’s just that little bit too warm for snow and, when it does snow, it’s a powder coat that melts the next morning as soon as the sun rises. So… Autumn is the best season.
Reason 1 – Blanket/Cuddle Weather
Let’s be real, this is the prime blanket/cuddle season. Summer? Too hot for cuddles and I love cuddles so this is torture for me. Winter? Cold feet!! and no one wants to be the human heater. Autumn is like baby bear’s porridge. It’s just right. ‘Tis the season to grab your cuddle buddy or, if you’re buddy-less (like me), the fluffiest cuddliest blanket within your possession and get cozy. This is when all the best blankets go on sale in Penneys/Primark and you can buy four and not be judged for it plus a blanket is always a good investment.
Reason 2 – Halloween!
Autumn is spooky season. Be honest, as a kid, nothing beats going house to house being vaguely threatening and getting sweets for it. Did I mention I love the whole dress up aspect of the holiday? I have my costume already and I’m very proud of my plan and I have an excuse to play with make-up for a day and go wild. Some people are genuinely creative when it comes to costume ideas. Plus, as Celtic people here in Ireland, we helped start the whole celebration, dressing up and lighting bonfires to ward off ghosts on Samhain (and for those who don’t know it’s pronounced: s-ow-in. Not sam-hane thank you very much Supernatural, nice try but you were wrong). But most importantly, Halloween means a bank holiday, some much needed R&R and loads of sweet “for the trick or treaters…” Mmm hmm, I’ll believe those sweets are for the children.
Reason 3 – Halloween Movies
This has to be a reason all by itself. I mean those movies that you always think of when anyone mentions Halloween movies. Anyone want to watch ‘Carrie’? ‘The Lost Boys’? And for those of you with no stomach for blood or violence, how about ‘Hocus Pocus,’ ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ or, better yet, ‘Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-rabbit.’ Be honest, most, if not all, these movies are pretty damn good and who doesn’t want to watch Bette Midler singing ‘I Put A Spell On You’? Need more ideas? Here you go:
- Get Out
- Edward Scissorhands
- Us (Jordan Peele really is that good)
- Ghostbusters (the original)
- Casper
- Child’s Play
- Coraline
- Monster House
- Little Shop of Horrors
- A Nightmare On Elm Street
- Sleepy Hollow
- A Quiet Place
- Gremlins
- Corpse Bride
and most importantly…. The Addams Family. Wednesday Addams is a delight and anyone who says otherwise is a liar. There’s so many more movies that I could include but I’m just saying Halloween movies are a reason to love Autumn because now you have movies to watch while you eat all the treats that were “left over.”
Reason 4 – The Clothes
Gone are the crop tops and short shorts, hello oversized hoodies, boots, jeans and cozy sweaters! Plus, while your wrapping up, you can accessorise with cute hats, beanies, scarves and fingerless gloves and, best of all, it’s not cold enough for your fingers to go numb and become useless on a touchscreen. Again, it’s that perfect balance of not too hot and not too cold.
Reason 5 – The Colours
The reds, the yellows, the bronzes and browns and that gorgeous deep green that you can really, properly appreciate in nature during Autumn. To me, everything takes on a gorgeous golden tone and the world looks like it’s in permanent sepia. And, to top it all off, when those leaves eventually do fall, you have those piles of leaves under your feet and there is nothing more satisfying than hearing that crunch under your feet.
Reason 6 – New TV
It’s already begun. As soon as Autumn arrives, you get all those TV shows that got renewed and a whole set of brand new series. ‘American Horror Story’ started up again in September with AHS 1984 and it’s based on the classic 1980s slasher flicks (you know some of those really good Halloween movies I mentioned earlier 😉 hint hint), get to watching because Ryan Murphy knows how to make good horror. ‘Catherine the Great’ starts on Sky Atlantic soon and Helen Mirren portrays the title character, a badass queen who ruled Russia for 34 years and over threw her own husband to take power. It’s definitely appropriate to say “Yaaaaasss Queen, slay!!” And, lastly, the series that I’ve been waiting for: ‘His Dark Materials.’ This is a BBC/HBO crossover and, praise be, the ads alone already look better than the 2007 film. James McAvoy and mini wolverine, Dafne Keen, both star in the series based on Philip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy which is set in a steampunk alternate reality of Oxford with physical manifestations of the soul in the form of animal shaped daemons. Get stuck into all that Autumn television and enjoy all the cozy nights in.
Reason 7 – The Calm Before The Storm
Summer is always crazy; find things to keep yourself/the kids entertained while you/they have all that free time then the insane rush to get ready to go back to school/college. Winter is the build up to Christmas and all the gifts you realise you need to buy after you think you’ve bought everything you need. In between, there’s Autumn. It’s chilling out with a hot drink by the fire every once in a while and lower levels of stress (I won’t say no stress because there’s always something). Autumn actually gives you some kind of chance to catch your breath and maybe create a plan of action to get yourself ready for the blur of family visits and excessively massive amounts of food that Christmas entails.
Reason 8 – Booktober
Literally any excuse to read a book is fine with me. An excuse to read multiple books in one month? Even better. Booktober for me means I’m going to read some of the books that I always said I will read but never did. My reading list for Booktober is The Three Musketeers, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Sleepy Hollow, The Great Gatsby and The Sun Is Also A Star. If you only have the energy to read a few pages a day, even if you just get one book scratched off your list, Booktober is as good a reason as any to pick up a book.
Reason 9 – Apple
No, not the technology company, I mean the fruit. Apples are ripe in Autumn which means apple pies, apple crumbles, salted caramel apple crisp; I have to stop before I drool on my keyboard. If it has apples in it, I’m eating it. The options are there, all you need to do is be creative. When it comes to apples, I’m kind of like those guys in the old Bulmers ‘Embrace the Pear’ advertisements. Apple apple apple apple.
Reason 10 – Coziness
Autumn is cooler, yes, but now you can light the fire and enjoy the heat coming from the fireplace as it warms your bones and no-one will argue with you. There’s nothing more homely and welcoming than a warm fire and big cup of hot chocolate or tea. Autumn will never be bitterly cold and it’s the best thing ever. There’s bonfires too and watching embers float into the sky…. you know, maybe Ireland is a country obsessed with fire…Hmm. Sorry about that. Maybe, we’re all just excessively devoted to being warm when it become even the slightest bit cold.
These are my 10 reasons but there’s so many more. Autumn is a beautiful time of year and if you’re one of those people, you’re closer to Christmas if that helps and it’s Autumn not ‘Fall’, sorry America, but the Romans gave us a word and I’m not sacrificing it but I will use it for really bad puns. I regret nothing! XD
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