Clouds form over the Solent off Portsmouth yesterday as Storm Francis approaches the UKThe shadows are growing longer, the evenings are becoming darker and there is an unmistakable chill in the air. Autumn often seems to creep up on the last days of summer like a predator stalking its prey, but the changing of the seasons can often feel deceptive with trees in full leaf, the grass a lush green and flowers in bloom. The English poet Elizabeth Jennings caught the spirit of this time of year in Song at the Beginning of Autumn (1955):“Now watch this autumn that arrives/ In smells. All looks like summer still;/ Colours are quite unchanged, the air/ On green and white serenely thrives./ Heavy the trees with growth and full/ The fields. Flowers flourish everywhere.”This August, though, the first signs

Source: The Times August 24, 2020 23:03 UTC