Early, cold, start to autumn

Gloomy, cold, damp, unpleasant. At six this morning the temperature outside was +5C; by midday, when I went out to do the weekly shop, it had climbed to +8.5C. Given that last Sunday we were sweltering in +30C heat, this is some sharp drop in temperature. This time last year, the weather was warmer and dryer. We're forced into sweaters and slippers. I bought a new pair yesterday in Krakow (in the underground passage between the Planty and the station). This pattern of góralskie (mountain folk) slippers is ubiquitous in Poland, priced the same in Zakopane as in Gdańsk, and sold alongside oscypki, the smoked ewes' milk cheese, and other folk artifacts.

This is my fifth pair since arriving in Poland. They are supremely comfortable and warm, just the thing to slip your feet into on a cold winter's night. But inflation is making itself felt; the adult-sized ones used to be 20 złotys a pair, now they are 30 zł; in sterling terms it's a rise from three quid to seven. And - for the first time since early spring - we had a sauna to warm our bones. And - for the first time since early spring - we've had to put the central heating on for an hour to take the chill from the air.

On his blog 20 east, Scatts opines that Poland has but two seasons, 'green' and 'grey'. If so, we've just slipped from the one to the other, not to re-emerge until early April. A distressing thought. I rather think Poland has six seasons, except this year we've skipped one. We're now gone from high summer to that grey, chilly, pre-frost period missing the babie lato or Indian summer/golden autumn along the way. The pre-frost period usually lasts from mid-October to early December and is followed by Winter Proper. Characterised by below-freezing temperatures and snow, Winter Proper (which seems to get shorter and less intense each year) is followed by przednówek, that dead, drear, season when there's no longer much chance of snow settling but there's still no sign of new life. The suddenly, in early April, spring kicks in. Short and intense, it melds seemlessly into high summer (dry at first in May and June, wetter in July and August). Last year, September was generally warm and fine, babie lato continued into mid-October.