October comes and finds the unwanted shells of cicadas awash on the ground, or clinging like ancient corpses to trees. The cicadas themselves are busy evading birds or signalling their presence with a high-pitched buzzing.

And, of course, there is me in the garden, digging out the many shoots of new bamboo that have survived the massive harvest of the central stand on my neighbours property. Surely the Vietcong learnt the lesson of tunnelling and re-emerging in a new location from watching bamboo. I swear that it grows while my back is turned!

October is often a surprising month. Being the middle month of Spring, it can put on a burst of heat or just as easily a cool snap. Bushfires can get going in October under the right conditions. It is a doorway to the summer, beginning with school holidays and ending with the onset of daylight saving.

Despite the difficulties of the past seven months, I nominate October as a month of hope. And joy!