Today is officially the first day of autumn (meteorologically speaking).
And next week the schools go back.
And that can feel as though we're set for a rapid descent into the end of the year...
But the new term also signals a fresh start. It's a time to get down to business again after the summer break (whether or not we got away).
It's an opportunity to think of goals, ambitions and resolutions but with less pressure than January's New Year ritual.
And it's also a time, for me, to have a bit of a purge, a 'spring' clean in order to refocus on what is important.
However, in ransacking the wardrobe and the attic, I've been confronted with memories so I'm finding myself looking backwards instead of forwards!
This has coincided with some research I've been doing for a magazine article - about typewriters.
When I was at journalism college we were still using portable typewriters, but it wasn't long before they became completely redundant and cast aside.
Now, in the past 10 years, they have had a resurgence and particularly with journalists, scriptwriters and novelists who are eager to steer away from the distractions of websites, emails, and the all-too-easy delete button of computers. It seems many of them are finding their creativity is best channelled through using the manual typewriter, a machine invented 200 years ago.
For all the speed and efficiency of technology, there are some things that cannot be replicated - we prefer holding a book and turning its pages with our fingers; we want to take a record out of its sleeve and place it on a turntable; and we like to hear the metal keys of a mechanical machine pounding onto the page.
I wonder which of the authors in this year's Booker longlist use a typewriter? Perhaps we'll find out in tomorrow night's discussion. I'll let you know!
Thank you for reading.