I am sitting at the computer (uh, duh!) in my room, in front of a large bay window. I am warm and cosy, a radiator in front of me, with further ones to the left and right of me. But, baby, it's cold outside.

I can't see much at all out of my north-facing window pane - it is too wet.

Through the window pane straight ahead of me all is wild and white. The wind is driving snow horizontally across my view from right to left - from north to south, this being the much-promised Arctic wind. Excited kids, having just come out of school, are scraping snow off the roofs of parked cars and chucking it at each other. More sensible adults are hunkered down, retracting their heads into scarved shoulders.

Through the window on my left, all is a winter wonderland. Protected from the wind, the snow has piled up and the hedge is prettily frosted.

And I luxuriate in my warm glass cocoon, my sweltering snowdome - quite, quite naked.