Garden-Grumbling?

I'm not garden-grumbling (she said, definitely garden-grumbling) but autumn hasn't really done much this year. Yet! It's been very dry, so many deciduous tree leaves have barely turned colour before drying off and dying. So while there's a lot of crackle building up on the lawns, autumn is being a lazybones, colour-wise. In moister autumns brilliant reds and golds seem to hang up on the branches for days and days. Ah - those were the days...

 Yet...
Autumn is Not So Colourful...

The fire ban is still in place (because the ground is so dry), so I haven't even started to clean up the gum leaves (which go on the bonfire). Have just started raking the oak leaves - they go in bags to produce leaf mould. So that's it, really. Colourless messes everywhere and a limpy old lady with a slightly sore knee not doing very much. Sorry, Autumn, but I'd prefer you to be a little more spectacular...

I have noticed some nice late flowering roses, though, and I'm really grateful for these.