Oh, yes, I’m feeling those autumn vibes now. The ink, the paper, the pen, the knitting, all illuminated with late-evening lamplight, and the glorious lyrics of Roy Wood underpinning it all.

This is Mr Wood’s “Way Beyond the Rain” from his 1979 solo album “On The Road Again” – a US-only release which I’ve only recently become aware of.

As you can see, my knitting progress has been far from stellar, although since I have knitted and re-knitted this same two inches a good number of times, I’ve actually put in enough work to pretty much finish the back of the waistcoat!

I continue with the necessary adjustments that accompany a new job, especially after a period away from the workplace. Frankly, I’m just grateful that I don’t fall asleep at my desk every afternoon, and take this as a good sign that my tasks themselves are keeping me stimulated. The Filofax personal size continues to work well and I mentally ear-marked some time this past weekend to transfer across notes and items such as my word of the year page. Perhaps if I had written it down rather than mentally noting it, I would have actually done those things. Still, next weekend is three days long and nobody is having a birthday, so perhaps that will be a better time to tackle the remaining setup.

I have written dry the Burgundy Royale cartridge in my new Diplomat Traveller fountain pen (yes, I still think of it as my new pen) and now it is paired with a cartridge of Graf von Faber-Castell Burned Orange. The problem I had before I started using the Diplomat has not resolved itself: I have too many pens inked up with shades of green and the only way to rectify that is to write everything in green until I’m through them. This is not a solution I am looking forward to. Meanwhile, I’m still pondering how to use the mid-year diary as my ink journal. Since I had filled in some diary items for August before I abandoned the idea of using this in place of my Filofax, I’m using these weeks for experimentation and aim to start the serious usage in September.

I’m using my Cross Bailey Light fountain pen every day at work because I’m jotting down a lot of notes. At some point I will know the things I’m writing down and there will be less need for pen and paper, but I think that’s a little way in the future yet. Using a pen at work is making up for the reduction in journal pages I’m completing in the mornings. Perhaps that, too, will stabilise over time, but for the moment it’s slightly sub-optimal. I told myself that I could write in my journal later in the evening, but that just doesn’t happen. The morning feels much more natural to me.

Speaking of my journal, I am now halfway through it which means that I will be ready to move on to a new book around the middle of October. I think I’ll use the one notebook which I have in reserve and then have a good look around the shops in the lead-up to Christmas to see what might suit me moving into next year.

You know, all these autumn colours are lovely, but what is really missing in my life right now is a little bit of blue.