Once Autumn has fulfilled its all-too-brief contract with nature in its display of leaf-turning gaiety, the season, the atmosphere and the scenery take on quite another aspect altogether. Fallen leaves, in their fleeting glory of yellow, orange, red and burnt umber, swiftly turn rusty or charcoal grey, crisp and prepared to crumble under foot, whispering on paved streets as the wind gusts them along, 'it's over!'

And it is, actually. Fall of 2011 gradually concluding, never again to be encountered. On the cusp of appearance is Winter of 2011, introducing an entirely other year: 2012.

On the way to welcoming that new year, there will be ceremonies of remembrance. There will be sombre and detailed memories still brought to the public eye and ear by survivors of the Holocaust. Not even time can mitigate that unspeakable horror. Certainly not the phrase "never again", which, while noble in intent, fails when pitted against the ever-repeated commissions of the worst excesses in human nature.

And looming on the horizon is Remembrance Day, when we recall the heroic courage of men plucked from the routine of their ordinary lives and conscripted to do dreadful battle in the name of democratic freedoms.