It may be my imagination, but there has definitely been a change in the air. It’s as if, with the onset of the Embers of the Year, everything as suddenly become much duller and grimmer. As if with the coming of autumn everyone has hunkered down and gone back to work; settled into the usual humdrum routine that will last until christmas. I was just at the local special school asking if I could volunteer, as I’ve done every year for the last five – my version, I suppose, of returning to work. I know I shouldn’t feel so glum – after all, the metropolis has a habit of throwing up nuggets of awesomeness when you least expect – yet, with the sky so cloudy and bleak, it feels like the city has returned to a routine which, while reassuring, is ultimately very dull. Having said that, I thought the same this time last year, and look what awesome things followed.