Autumn… time to turn over a new leaf

EVER felt that September is the true start of the New Year and not January? The time when, after the long summer break, kids return to school and adults to work. 

September always felt to me like a new start because of the change in routine. Your day-to-day life got shaken up anyway so it seemed like a good time to make changes, initiate projects or get back to some things abandoned over the summer. A time of fresh starts, self-evaluation and reflection, for some maybe, even divorce…

A recent US study revealed that marriage break-ups peak not only after Christmas but also at the end of summer, possibly caused by family rows and disappointing holidays that fail to mend growing rifts in relationships.

Whether we want to face up to it or not, it’s quite clear that civilisation itself is being shaken up pretty forcefully too by the global threat from disease, climate change, crime, financial crises, terrorism,  etc. We’ve got the whole lot going on at once.

Yes, but what’s this got to do with divorce? Like so many things, it’s out of control and costing an arm and a leg (Britain reputedly the divorce capital of the world due to mega-payouts). Disasters of volcanic proportions start with bubbles of gas long before we start to see lava flowing.

Years ago we were warned about the overuse of antibiotics, now some are no longer effective. How long before an incurable plague-like disease wrong-foots us? Ebola hasn’t disappeared simply because we don’t hear much about it anymore.

Basically, we’ve left too much to fate by thinking ‘it’ll never happen.’ Heck, all around us the social and economic fabric of our world is being slowly chipped away at, a situation becoming increasingly serious, together with the potential for knock-on effects.

The problem with the culture which has built up today is that many of us want all the material goodies which go with today’s lifestyles, but don’t want to give anything back. Time to turn over more than a new leaf then?

Nora Johnson’s thrillers ‘No Way Back,’ ‘Landscape of Lies,’ ‘Retribution,’ ‘Soul Stealer,’ ‘The De Clerambault Code’ (www.nora-johnson.com) available from Amazon in paperback/eBook (€0.89; £0.79) and iBookstore. All profits to Costa del Sol Cudeca cancer charity.