Dreaming of Fruit

I've been dreaming of fruit ever since Autumn began, which was half way through August this year, the ripening fruit dropping from trees onto foot paths, gardens, lawns and fields; such a bountiful harvest and so early that it caught us unawares. Yes I've been foraging every day for weeks now, but that's not enough to keep up with the wonderful crop that nature has decided to bestow on us this year. Last week I met a friend who begged me to come and pick some of his fruit. "I've got apples, pears, peaches and figs" he said. "Just come and help yourself, whether we're in or not." And so I persuaded someone to take me there in a car, plastic bags stuffed in my pockets. We left with bagfuls of fruit, enormous figs, juicy and ripe, tiny peaches, not ripe at all but fallen from the tree, and beautiful red apples. The pear tree was too tall for us. There was a net hanging strategically under the pear tree but we couldn't reach the fruit that had fallen into it.