3. Autumn.

Autumn begins in September. The days are much shorter and colder. In the mornings there are early frosts. The green leaves fade. The trees and bushes become yellow, orange, red, and purple. The foliage begins to fall down. The sky is usually grey and cast with low dark clouds. It often rains. The puddles and pools don't disappear so quickly as in summer but stay for a long time. And mud. There is mud everywhere – the main disaster of any autumn. Running past trolley-buses, cars and lorries can splash mud over passers-by from top to bottom (сверху донизу). And you have to put on a raincoat and take an umbrella not to get wet through. There is usually strong wind trying to tear out (вырвать) umbrellas and people practically run along the streets. The weather is usually nasty / beastly. Sometimes there are thick fogs and you can hardly see anything in a few metres. Everything is dull.

But in September or at the beginning of October there is a period, which we call Indian summer. The days stay clear and still. The sky is blue with some white clouds. And the sun warms gently but does not burn. The nature is in its full beauty – multicoloured trees, dark brown fields and green and yellow meadows, fresh air, warmness and flocks of birds flying away to the far-away countries to spend winter there.

But this period is not very long. And then it starts raining heavily. The woods become bare, the grass fades. Chilly winds make people stay at home. At the end of October it snows for the first time. Usually it melts very quickly, but it is a sign winter is coming. Late autumn is cold with frosts in the mornings. The harvest is gathered and brown fields under the rain look sad.

4. Winter.

Winter begins with snowfalls and the first not very strong snowstorm. December is the first winter month. January and February are winter months too. But in reality winter lasts from the middle of November till the middle of March in our places. The sun is low in the sky and there is little warmth from it. The sky is usually grey or colourless. But sometimes you can see very gentle colours of pearl, pale blue, pink, yellow. In the sunbeams snow begins to sparkle. But then the weather changes and it snows heavily and the piercing wind blows hard making snowflakes go up and down in strands.

There are large snowdrifts in which children like to play and roll. All rivers, lakes and ponds are frozen over. Sometimes it's so bitterly cold that you can have frost-bitten nose, cheeks and ears. But when it is not so cold you can find some fun skating or skiing, tobogganing or playing snowballs. In the yards snow fortresses are made. Children slide down the ice-hills. Sometimes we have days when it is still and snow falls down slowly in huge snowflakes. The branches and twigs of trees are covered with hoarfrost. Everything looks like in a fairy-tale.

There are sometimes large changes of temperature – after hard frosts and blizzards there are periods of thaw. Then the temperature is about zero, the snow sinks down and there is slush on the roads and the streets. These days you can get home all over dirty and wet.

To my mind these two opposites – frosts and thaws are the only unpleasant moments of any winter. But there is one holiday thanks to which they like winter. I mean the New Year. People begin to get ready for it long before. They buy a New Year tree and decorations – toys, garlands, fires, flags, and candles. They go shopping to buy foodstuff, beverages and presents. On the eve of the holiday they clean their flats, decorate New Year trees and make a holiday supper. And the nature prepares too. It's strange enough, but the New Year night is usually still and not very cold. People are glad to go outdoors after midnight and walk for several hours after a holiday supper. There are crowds of people, laughing, singing, dancing and joking.

Well, I don't like winter because of its coldness, snowstorms and the shortest days of the year. When you get up it's still dark outdoors, when you get home after work it's already dark. The only thing that let me live in peace with winter is the New Year.

Topic 'Leisure Time'