Discos and Vics

If you're not careful, there's a lot of grief attached to the end of the summer. The loss of warm skin and wasted days, outside evenings, cold-beer grins.

Add the anxiety of back-to-work and back-to-school and why didn't I sort out the shed when the days were dry and evenings light?

Well, sunshine, there's good news.

The cure for very nearly all of those black, intrusive vibes has arrived in the nick of time. You can knock the grief out of the park with a very large dose of the first local fruit of the autumn.

In the time that it took me to fetch my phone, most of the Victorias had vanished from the above bowl. I challenge anyone to find a more delicious English plum.

If you've got enough left over to make jam, well, you're not eating enough. As fresh as possible, please. Ideally an arm-stretch from the tree.

I love Discovery apples. Sweet and summery and just tart enough to let you know that they're real and haven't spent the winter in a climate controlled warehouse.

I sold apples one year. A friend had too many and the local delis not quite enough. The smell in the car when it had been loaded with trays of apples overnight was as sweet as heaven.