Sydney moves to autumn without drumroll - surprising for this drama queen of a city | Paul Daley

I’m celebrating a change of season whose signs I’ve come to long for and celebrate

Born on the second day of autumn, it’s little wonder I’ve always felt most at home in cities where that season celebrates itself with dramatic shifts of hue and climate.

Melbourne. Canberra. London. And Canberra again, where the Limestone Plains – and the hundreds of thousands of European trees imposed upon them – segue from verdant to every glorious variation of russet and gold, as the air sharpens under an ever more vivid, clear cobalt sky.

Related: Autumn in Australia: your best pictures

Nights have, while not exactly a chill, a keenness that makes you contemplate a doona

Related: A local’s guide to Sydney

Deep and dissolving verticals of light
Ferry the falls of moonshine down. Five bells
Coldly rung out in a machine’s voice. Night and water
Pour to one rip of darkness, the Harbour floats
In the air, the Cross hangs upside-down in water.

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