"I have in my hand a few simple leaves..."

Today I was walking down the street on my way to the Tesco emporium, when I passed a couple of young mothers, each equipped with buggy and child.

It being Autumn, the leaves are falling off the trees in that smugly predictable way that is their wont. Each of the children in question had a yellow-orange Maple leaf of their very own in their hand, and were waving them like mad, beaming with delight. One of the children actually had two - she had one leaf in each hand, frenetically waving them both at the world in general. It looked like she was about to pass out through sheer excitement.

You remember what a leaf looks like.

It seemed a stark contrast to our society of relentless pursuit of money, property, and just, well, things in general, really, where we are conditioned to feel that life is one big competition, and that, as one bumper sticker puts it, "The one who dies with the most toys, wins."

That the possession and waving of leaves could be so enjoyable and fulfilling to these small people gave me pause for thought.

I tried to imagine the view out of those children's eyes, how simple the world must be, and where waving a leaf could cause paroxysms of joy. I wondered if perhaps they saw coloured spots before their eyes, so great was the intoxication induced by manual leaf oscillation.

Calm down, dear.

I suspect it will be only a short time before leaves hold no interest to those children, as their worlds become filled with designer labels, Nike trainers, celebrity, small green pieces of paper, rent, income tax forms, jobs and mortgages.

But I dare say that there will be more children coming along, ready to discover the joy of leaves.

And the best part? Apparently, they actually do grow on trees.

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