Hot toddies, hot chocolate, warm rooms...

As I sit in my living room watching the snow fall in huge white flakes outside in my magical garden I can only reflect on how lucky I feel today.  As the world turns white and airports are shut, roads are impassable and shops bemoan the lack of pre-Christmas customers, I am feeling so fortunate to be sitting in this warm, cozy space surrounded by things to do, treats to eat and such a sense of safety.

In past years I have dreaded the arrival of winter.  It has always heralded sadness and depression that engulfed me in a cloud of doom.  This year I am looking at the world through differently tinted spectacles.  I dug out my wonderful warm sheepskin boots,my big sheepskin jacket, thermal gloves and hats and I even went for a walk as the snow blizzarded down around me.  It only made me laugh at how much we actually are at the mercy of the weather.  There really is no arguing with nature when it decides to override all the Christmas preparations and shopping plans. Today was one of those days when the legacy of living with parents for whom hunger was a reality paid off. It means that in my house there is always enough food for at least a few weeks so the idea of running out of things doesn't occur to me and there is none of the panic buying that the newspapers report.  I am not in danger of getting caught in a London blizzard that strands my car in sudden snowdrifts and I am not worried about carrying emergency chocolates, hot drinks, torches or flares in case of breakdowns.  I will just not get in my car.  I live around the corner from functioning bus stops and food stores.

The streets are wonderfully quiet today.  The snow has cushioned and softened all sound and even seems to have performed a minor miracle in softening peoples' hurry-up attitudes.  Walking down the street as the snow crunches underfoot everyone smiles and looks each other in the eyes and somehow all of us remember when we were younger and delighted with the snowfall.  I saw one snowman and one snow duck (!), kids carrying sleds to the park and dozens of cars skidding along the road.

Winter days like today are rare.  Even as the sun sets the garden is lit by the whiteness of the snow.  The world is completely magical and so what if the buses aren't running, the cars are stuck at the bottom of the hill and the shops are all shut early.  There is hot chocolate and cake, hot soup bubbling on the stove and a lovely cocoon to live in. I never felt so happy to be exactly where I am as I am in this moment.