Goodness me, where did the summer go?! It seems like only yesterday that I was making plans to take time out in August to do some walking, reading, thinking… but somehow summer has been and gone and I still haven’t managed to take that time. Ah well… I expect the beaches and coastal walks will be a lot emptier in November and the silver lining is that I will now be able to take my time off during a time when there will be very few holidaymakers around; which is perfect for me because I love uncrowded open spaces.

The reason August ended up being so busy is in part due to the fact that we had our first ‘year end’. Just when I thought I had got my head around most of the ins and outs of running a charity I discovered that there are all kinds of extra responsibilities like getting the accounts audited and signed off, filing those accounts (and annual reports) with both Companies House and the Charities Commission - all at the same time as preparing for our annual core support group meeting and meeting of trustees and getting the bus taxed and MOT’d. Scary! Thank goodness for Ginny, who has bravely taken on the role of accounts manager, and Sue, our finance director. Thank you Ginny and Sue!!!

Anyway, we’re almost there with all of the above, so I’m back to planning some time out in a month or so.

I would like to spend some time reading and catching up with friends and family, but I’m also hoping to be able to get over to East Anglia for a couple of weeks of exploring and beachcombing. I have wonderful memories of scouring the beaches in Scarborough for fossils as a child - and in my teens I discovered Lyme Regis (which made the hunt almost too easy). I’ve always loved beachcombing and have a huge collection of beach glass and driftwood- but I’ve never gone in search of amber. As hunting for amber is one of the top things on my ‘list of things to do before I die’, I’m going to try to tick it off this year. It doesn’t bother me if I don’t actually find any, just as I don’t mind that I never spotted the Loch Ness monster in all the times I went searching for him/her when I was younger; it really is the search that I’m looking forward to!

So, if you are wandering along the Suffolk shoreline in November and spot someone crouched down on the beach examining every single tiny little stone or lump of rock with a magnifying glass, that will probably be me!

In the meantime, I’d better get this bus reverse gear issue (that’s been plaguing us all summer) sorted out once and for all.

Happy Autumn Equinox!