A Different Kind of Cold

For those not currently in Britain, I'd just like to say that this is a different kind of cold from the winter cold we're used to.

British cold in winter, certainly in my lifetime, has generally been a damp, drizzly kind of cold. Sometimes it tips over into sleet and sometimes it's turned into snow. But it's always been damp.

This current cold makes you gasp when you open the back door. Your breath swirls round you in big clouds. The light covering of snow that we currently have here is the texture of icing-sugar.

All the small birds are completely round as they fluff up their feathers to keep warm. I hadn't seen this phenomenon for years, until last winter. Quite how they survive these very cold nights I'm not sure but they do seem to be back on the bird feeders in the morning.

Even Olli and Gareth's cat Wendy, who normally spends her time rushing up trees and beating up magpies, won't stay outside for more than half an hour. Froggie, our other cat, who's elderly now, hasn't set foot outside for days and spends most of her time on the windowsill above the radiator so she can watch Outside without ever having to go there.

It's cold, Jim, but not as we know it. I feel I have enjoyed it enough and I don't want to make further acquaintance with it. Bring me sunshine. The warm kind. And daffodils. Thank you.