What happened to Autumn?

I remember long leafy autumns in East London, Victoria Park in the rain, a slow gradual slide into a winter not particularly cold. Dark evenings when the shops light up the dim streets with colourful displays and living room windows give us an eye into the lives of people returning home after work.

Here in Lodz we plummet from the high temperatures of summer to just above zero almost overnight. Unprepared and unwillingly to succumb immediately to the start of another long and bleak winter, I freeze in light tops with no hat or gloves. They tell me that until the snow falls we are indeed in autumn but I find that of little comfort when I'm shivering at the tram stop. It's easy to spot the British here in Poland as they too are still wandering around in t-shirts apparently oblivious to the chill.

Word of the week: Jesien meaning autumn.