The Boot Signal

Batman had one to let him know when Gotham was in trouble. The three wise men saw one in the sky when the Big J arrived.Something always went wrong every time Harry met Sally.

It was a sign. One that we choose to ignore. 

We first started seeing it in the last week of September.Every woman on the street (and quite a few men) were wearing boots. Short ones, long ones, stiff ones and slouchy ones. It was like the autumn fashion fairy had come in and gobbled up all summer footwear from the city of Geneva.

In fact we even laughed about it as we walked to dinner this weekend. " Trust the Swiss do everything like clockwork." October has begun. Must change footwear. It didn't really matter that there was no snow. In fact it wasn't even that cold. There we were, ambling through the streets of Paquis in our denim jackets. Inside the restaurant, it was positively toasty.

That is until we got out. The chill seemed to have seeped in through the strong denim of my jacket. "Brr, its really cooled down," I said. "Nah, its nothing." P said. If P had a superpower, it would be a body temperature ten degrees higher than normal human beings."Lets get a gelato and walk down to the car." 

I was shivering by the time we got to the gelateria. " I'll have hazelnut," P looked at me expectantly. " Unn nnnnoissette, s'il vous plait." I'm the official translator.

"Nothing for you?" P normally looks forward to finishing my ice cream cone in addition to his. " No, I'll pass. I can't feel my ears. It's gotta have dropped down to 5 degrees"

" Nah, it's not that cold," he said. "I'll give you 500 bucks if its lesser than 15 degrees. We'll check it once we get to the car."

By the time we were in the car, I had lost all sensation in my face. We turned the ignition on. 26 degrees. "It's because we're dddown in the pparking lot." I cut P off before the inevitable "I told you so"

"Bet's still on. 500 bucks if it goes below 15 by the time we get home"

It hit 21 by the time we drove out of the parking lot, dropped another five in the seven minutes it took to drive home.

I'm going to use the 500 to buy a thick overcoat. And boots.

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Theres more to October than pumpkin!

Voila, almost in a flash, we enter the best part of the year. I love this part of the year, it has joy and affirmation, excuses to celebrate crammed into its nooks and crannies.

In October then, a month of metamorphosis, where sunny days turn overcast, warm breezes turn chilly, and nature changes her wardrobe from nautical greens to more vibrant hues,as if preparing for the celebrations ahead. The dominant theme in this month is the harvest, with grape crushing, chestnut warming, wine harvesting happening all over Europe.

 

Here's some interesting and alternative ideas for ways to celebrate this month :

Vendages de Montmartre (Wine Festival) - Paris - 10 -12 October. The quirkiness of Montmartre, the beauty of Paris and wine. Need I say more

Eurochocolate 2009 - Perrugia Italy - 18-26 October. A ten day chocolate festival with "Break Ranks" as its call to arms, it challenges participants to creativity with chocolate. They had me at chocolate.

Electronic Dance Festival -Amsterdam - 21-24 October. Think of this not as a festival of electronic music (eventhough it showcases the best, including David Guetta, Paul Van Dyk, Fatboy Slim), but rather as a place to go and dance your heart out to some great music. Amsterdam has some great attractions of the non hedonistic sort, the Van Gogh museum has the world's largest collection of the master's work.

Modial de la Biere - Strasbourg - 16-18 Oct - For those who missed the Oktoberfest or just can't get enough, here's the french equivalent. The fact that its located in the Alsace winegrowing region presents interesting sightseeing and wine tasting opportunities.

Festival des Arbres Lumieres - Geneva - 30th Oct - 29 Nov - Artistic light installations will be put up throughout on trees in the city centre. From what I see of last years edition, we can finally look forward some flair in Geneva.

(Gypsy invites readers to try at least one or more of the above locations and narrate their comments and experiences. Great stories will be featured as a guest blog on this site)

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