Getting to know you

I think I may be coming to terms with Autumn at last.  There is a certain joy to be taken from the turning of the seasons.  People who live in uniformly temperate climes tend to point this out when the rest of us whine about our meteorological lot.  I suppose this makes sense.  There's a well-know psychological phenomenon known as The Hawthorne Effect.  I won't go into the whys-and-wherefores of this mental state, but it can be summed up as improvements in performance and behaviour can be observed in subjects who are aware that they are being watched.  This effect can to triggered by a change in one's environment.  The change can be beneficial or detrimental; it matters not which.  This change makes the subject feel loved, albeit in hugely abstracted way, and they react in a positive way.

I suppose it follows then that as we enter the cusp of the seasons, we too feel this benefit.  It manifests itself (for me at least) in a joy at the rediscovery of sweaters, root vegetables and Benilyn.  Also, I should declare an interest.  October is my birthday month, so I feel like the centre of attention for a bit, and associate the feelings of pleasure this scrutiny affords me with the return of autumn.  It does take a while to kick-in though.  The first few dark mornings are a real elbow in the solar plexus for one's psyche.