For many people the month of September involves a wave of depression as summer draws to a close and it was incredibly poignant this morning when I dropped my lads to school and college, the first significant rain for some time accompanied a 10 degrees temperature drop.

I have spoken to many people over the last week who are suffering the first signs of S.A.D as the memories of their holidays with their children in the Mediterranean and Florida fade away. A lady I work with told me of how gut wrenching it was dropping her daughter off to school after she had built such a strong bond with her during their recent holiday to America.

I have also seen my own son sink into a downer after spending nearly a week camped out at the Reading Festival. For him, the Monday he left the festival was like the curtain drawing on what has been the best summer of his youth and I couldn’t help but feel for him as he disappeared into the rain this morning.

Personally speaking, I have not had a holiday to get depressed about, but I have witnessed the end of my first season as the chairman at Oakley Cricket Club and as I drove away from the ground on Sunday with the sun setting behind me, I had a ludicrous lump in my throat and the hint of a tear in my eye.

The cricket club has provided me so many memories this year (though not a maiden 50) and knowing that it is all over until next May is a depressing thought, especially as it has been a place where friendships have been built with so many people of such diverse age groups and culture. The support I have had in a role that is not as easy as some might imagine, has been nothing but outstanding.

A long awaited decent summer in Hampshire provided many happy memories at Oakley CC

However, once again, I had Justine’s dog this morning, thus forcing me out of the door to walk her in a bid to quell the perpetual hyperactivity she has in her (the dog not Justine). As I walked through the rain, all of a sudden life didn’t seem so bad as with a jacket on and a pair of boots, it was actually bordering on pleasant.

I have found that with every year I get inevitably closer to the grave, the flowers smell sweeter and the seasons become more enjoyable. I can remember last autumn how startling the gold and red leaves looked against the crisp, blue autumn skies. I am sure they have always been like that in autumn but suddenly I found myself appreciating them, just as I did the winter snow.

One other thing I have realised over the last few weeks is how a dog really is a best man’s friend. Those of you who have a dog will understand what I am talking about, those of you who don’t, won’t, but the consistency and friendship they give you as their owner (a temporary one in my case) really is something that has staggered me.

During the time I had Darcey, I can honestly say she enhanced my daily life by at least thirty per cent as I embarked on various walks down at my dad’s place in Milford on Sea or around the Hampshire countryside that because it is on our doorstep, we don’t appreciate enough.

I wonder how long it would take me to miss it if I moved to an air conditioned house in some place where the baking sun threatens to turn your surrounding in to a raging inferno? I would give myself a month before Hampshire would tempt me back to where I belong.

So, if like many of us, you are one of those people who has been engulfed in seasonal depression in the last few days, I suggest you get out and about (perhaps with an extra layer) and enjoy the rolling hills, trout streams and meadows that would be pure fantasy to some poor bastard getting splayed with bullets and chemical weapons in Syria.

Remember, you are only depressed because you had such a great summer, so go and get yourself dog; they are the greatest leveller of all.