Tomorrow it’s the 1st of September and through my childhood, and through many years of my working life, the date was significant as a signal that soon it would be time to go back to school. As a very small child and until I was about fourteen the family would go to Norfolk in the first week of September because it was the cheapest – I’d be happy at this ninth month arriving because of going to the holiday camp (think “Hi-de-Hi”!). September, of course, was also when we went back to school, going into a new year, and sometimes a new class. here would be a mix of excitement at meeting my friends, hopes that the new classes would be interesting, and being fed up because of course – it’s school!
I left school and went away to Manchester Polytechnic, and I think our terms still started in September, unlike the universities, but of course, once my degree was completed, I got a job, and September didn’t necessarily have that same meaning. However – the inevitable ‘however’, I went back to college, qualified as a teacher, and then of course, back to school, and the mixed feelings about September! Now of course the first of September has no particular significance because I am no longer tied to a day job!
The name of the month as most of us know, comes from the Latin for ‘seven’ because the old Roman calendar started in March and was so named for the god Mars. Now of course, the calendar having been reorganised, the first month is January and September, despite its name is no longer the seventh month. Although I’ve not been tied to a specific time I consider ‘summer’ for many years now, somehow the arrival of September does signal a change in the year. Autumn is approaching, and maybe I imagine it, but there seems to be a change in the air.
September 3rd is my dear friend Wendy’s birthday, and had my daughter not decided to arrive early, in August, September 17th would have been her birthday – so rather than being one of the oldest in her class at school, she was one of the youngest! September writing group’s topic this month is ‘Arson’ and I do have a funny true story about an incident which happened to a friend – but funny though it was, it’s not really the sort of thing I could share!! There are other things to look forward to this month, which no doubt I will write about. Mentioning writing – I wonder if this will be the month that my next book is published, not so much blood or sweat, but tears of frustration and annoyance have been imminent on more than a few occasions! So fingers crossed that September’s harvest will include a new Radwinter novel! PS I still haven’t a name for it!
Lois Elsden 