… because it’s the time of year when I’m most prone to becoming depressed, but also, paradoxically, the time of year when I feel optimistic and full-of-life and enthusiastic.

The depression isn’t that hard to understand. Days are darker, the weather is gloomy and I miss the sunshine and fresh air (not that I ever get as much as I should). Just having to get up while it’s still dark puts me in a bad mood, and all I ever want to do most mornings is to stay warm in bed. Even when I’m up, I’m pretty apathetic. Something about the change in weather leaves me prone to headaches too (three in the past week, although Saturday’s may have had something to do with what I drank on Friday night) as well as all stuffed up with a cold.

At the same time though, I love autumn/winter weather when the days are bright and cold and clear - I find them really envigorating. I always start to cook a lot at this time of year; not just weekend meals (often to be eaten while watching Strictly Come Dancing, that shameless addiction of ours), but lots of stews and casseroles and chillis and curries to go into the freezer as ready meals for both me and Colin. It’s sort of a pre-hibernation phase in some ways.

And of course, October means the lead-up to National Novel Writing Month (have I mentioned that before?!) which always gets me excited. I really enjoy being a Municipal Liaison because I love keeping lists and trying to organise things and meeting people; I also get pleasingly enthusiastic about the actual writing, as this is the one time of the year when I attempt to exercise non-stop creativity (even though I should be doing it all year round, as explained on my Sharp Words blog).

So I’m fairly sure that over the next three months, I’ll go through a lot of highs and lows, often in the same day (in the same hour, even). It’s been the pattern of years, after all, and I’ve more or less got the hang of minimising the lows and making the most of the highs. I’ll just keep on with it.

Also today, I am mostly … visiting Ikea again

… because I need to take back some prints I bought that are too big for the frames I have. And there are a few other things I want; Marion’s given me a list too. The downside of going to Ikea on a work day is that I have to drive all the way into Belfast, which means getting stuck in traffic and having to pay a small fortune for parking - this is the last time I intend to do it for quite a while though.

I need to visit B&Q as well, since it’s next-door to Ikea; Colin has got two-thirds of the loft insulation done, but we’ve run out of space blankets. And we might as well get it all done while they’re on offer. I can already feel the difference in how long the house stays warm once the heating’s been switched off, especially in our previously-chilly bedroom. Hurrah!