秋の雲は美しいです。

秋の雲は美しいです。

あきのくもはうつくしいです。

Aki no kumo wa utsukushii desu.

Autumn clouds are beautiful.

So, I took this picture a couple of days ago. It is from my window, from my room, from our flat. It is of the trees along my road and the trees in the park near my house and the sky. It’s not necessarily the prettiest or most moving picture I have ever taken, or seen, but I like it.

There is something about the weather in the Autumn, in the Winter, that I find captivating. It all seems rather desolate. The trees crook and bend; their branches arch to the sky as if they are trying to scar the rolling clouds. The sky takes on a dull, ache of a colour and the clouds hang heavy in the sky. It is all at once mundane and epic. Depressing and overwhelming. Ugly and beautiful. When you are walking along the street in the heavy Winter light (as if the Sun is only half awake), and the wind stirs… it twists and turns around you, your hair and scarf dance in the air… that is when I feel alive. In the sweltering Summer heat, it merely feels that I am living.

That is not to say that I do not enjoy the other seasons, I do. The flowers in Spring never cease to bewilder me; flowers are perhaps the most beautiful thing in the world to me. Summer’s long hot days and short warm nights bring out the happiness in people. Winter has a creaking isolation about it, but I find that heart warming. Alas, I digress. My point is that I think Autumn is beautiful, not really the changing colours of the leaves, but it feels like the sky has lulled down to the ground, the wind swirls, the clouds hang that much lower and the Sun hides away. I love it.

Belated Guy Fawkes!

So, for those that don’t know, in the UK (and perhaps other parts of the world), Guy Fawkes Night is a national holiday celebrated on the 5th November, every year. It celebrates, or rather, commemorates the capture of Guy Fawkes in 1605, who was caught trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament, to kill the then king, James I, because James I was protestant and Guy Fawkes was catholic (yes, religious extremism existed long before 9/11). This is the same guy who V from V for Vendetta is based around. Anyways, British schoolchildren are taught all about this and although no one really thinks about what we are *actually* celebrating, the holiday is still one of my favourites ^_^

For the holiday itself, lots of firework displays are put on and hundreds and thousands, if not millions, of people across the country brave the Autumn cold to attend the displays and go ‘oooh’ and ‘aaah’ at the fireworks! It’s really quite cool ^_^ The holiday is also more commonly called Bonfire Night, but I don’t like this term… because we’re not celebrating because of bonfires… and most firework displays don’t even have a bonfire, so I think Guy Fawkes is more fitting!

Here is the poem you have probably heard a thousand times before, but it’s cute and about Guy Fawkes so I have to post it!

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Anyways, I went to a firework display that was on the River Thames. It was really beautiful, quite cold but the fireworks were well worth it! Here are a few more pictures of them ^_^

*peace* <3