Let's hear it for autumn in the Hebrides!

This started out as a rant against the commercialisation of Christmas - the ubiquity of decorations and lights, the switching on of the seasonal lights before we've finished Remembrance, the tacky 'must-haves' in every shop and club.

But what transpired is a longing for the season which seems cut short by the consumer festivities; and which is ignored by one and all - late autumn. It seems that we slide effortlessly from falling leaves, pumpkins and fireworks into Christmas these days - and I mourn the lack of feeling for late autumn. Here on Lewis the weather is still warm; there are still leaves on the trees in the Castle Grounds, and the days are closing in with a shocking intimacy. This is not, yet, the season of Advent and all that happens beyond it: it is late autumn and early winter in all its raw glory.

So I propose a new twist on the perennial debate about the consumerism of Christmas and tinsel in the shops in late August - I put in a plea for late autumn in its own right. Let's enjoy it - the Northern Lights, the short days, the days of biting wind followed by others of final fruitfulness - and not anticipate midwinter yet.

I for one cannot sustain a season of mistletoe and wine which goes on for two months - and I'm sure my guests are relieved to find this house a tinsel-free zone, too. The lights are staying in the attic until the Solstice is nigh - and if that means I'm judged to be a 'humbug', too bad.