I love living in the countryside, especially in the autumn. 

The trees are a beautiful and the frosty mornings are magical. 

I love the light from the blue sky as it bounces off the gorgeous autumnal colours. It truly is lovely.

Absent Husband loves the autumn too - but not quite for the same reasons. It gives him licence to spend hours in the garden making noise. 

Most weekends are drowned out by the sound of the dreaded leaf blower - that evil machine so fondly thought of by gardeners.

I cannot explain how much the noise irritates me – there is just something about it that sets my teeth on edge.

And there is no respite during the week either. As I walk around the village there are often at least half a dozen leaf blowers at work sucking the peaceful tranquillity out of the air and chewing it up with the leaves.

I know the lawns and driveways look so much nicer without the leaves but honestly how long do they stay like that?  Not long.

A sudden gust of wind (popular in the autumn months) and the leaves are there again.

And I do wish Absent Husband would treat the bedroom floor like his does his lawn in the autumn.

Or perhaps I should use the vacuum and suck up his errant socks?

And don’t get me started on chainsaws either.  This column’s just not long enough.