The end of the Summer

I need to start by stating that this is not a rant about the end of the season, and Christmas coming and everything that can be tied into that. A melancholy tirade about the end of another year that is approaching.

If we turn around the negativity associated with the end of anything, we could say that this is this START of quarter 4 of the year. So actually this is a start!!!

I see events during the year as significant and show the start or end of periods. Easter is also the start of Summer, Later Summer Bank Holiday is the last one before Christmas, Valentines Day means Easter is coming, I could carry on.

However, the most significant event  has just taken place, it took place yesterday (the 8th September), it always occurs on this weekend in September, the actual date maybe the 8th or 9th, it may even be the 11th or 12th, but it still a very important date.

From when I used to watch this event as a small child, right through to yesterday, the format has never changed. A first half of various classical tunes, and a second programme of traditional music, responses, dances and occurrences. Always finished with Jerusalem, the National Anthem and then Auld Lang Syne led by the Promenaders themselves in readiness for next year.

So why is this event so important, so significant that it sets the scene for a whole sequence that unfolds for the future. The Last Night of the Proms is the event that symbolises, more than any other occurrence, the end of Summer. It matters not how hot the weather is, it matters not if there is not a cloud in the sky and it has not rained for weeks. The Proms is the end of summer, regardless!!

As I sit here, I have watched signs to prove my statement over and over again. Yesterday it was still fairly light at about 8pm. Tonight, ,one day after the Proms, it was lights on at home by 7.30pm!!! One day on and  summer has ended and the nights are drawing in already. I predict that within 2 weeks the heating is being put on, and on a regular basis, as the temperature starts to fall as the balmy days (poetic licence!!) of late summer draw to a close.

But, I just want to stress a point, I want to reiterate my earlier statement, this is not a doom and gloom rant, this is a post to point out that the End of Summer has been highlighted to us, so now we have a few days, maybe a week or so, to enjoy what was, look back at Summer and smile!!

And now look forward to a new season, the start of  Quarter 4, and the beginning of the traditions, customs  and family quirks that the seasons of Autumn and Winter bring.

What unique events signify the end of these seasons..................