I walked the dog through drifts of crunchy leaves, as conkers thudded to the ground around me and I thought, blimey, it's autumn. Already. I mean we've not really had a summer up here in the north and suddenly its 'fall', already. The supermarkets have piles of Christmas sweeties on offer and it can't be long until all the other Christmas stuff starts appearing, I noticed that Boots had some gift sets in last week.
Do you ever feel that modern life, or possibly grown-up life is lived on fast forward? I'm 47 now and 48 in a few weeks time - 50 in a couple of years. God, how did that happen. I don't care if 50 is the 'new' 40, it all seems bloody old to me. I haven't even managed to put together a proper career yet and I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm running out of time. Senior jobs seem to be occupied by kids (in reality twenty-somethings) and I find myself wondering when policemen got so young.
I started a Masters degree with OU in 1997 and what with one thing and another, failed to complete it. I thought I might have another bite at the cherry and sent off for confirmation of my partial qualification, it arrived today and this is probably why I feel a bit melancholy. 1997 doesn't seem so long ago when you say it does it, but written down on a piece of paper with my name on it, I realised that 1997 was 12 years ago. More than a decade in fact. Where does the time go when its not around here?