It is winter and cold and wet. I don't know how cold, but seem to recall that last winter (which I spent in Southampton) it was minus six – but dry (there was snow) and therefore it was not too horrible. In north Devon it's wet. And I don't like it. It's not just the cold and wet, after all the coldest winter I ever spent anywhere was my first winter in Spain. The apartment was on the third floor and had been cunningly contrived so that there were 5 outside walls. It was near the Atlantic, near Gibralter, and the wind howled. The floors were marble; no carpets. There was no heating. The windows fit so poorly that when the wind was in the right direction it drove the rain into the apartment so that there was a small river running though it.

It was freezing.

Still, there were sunny days. On new-years day, for example, it was warm enough to sit out on the front and soak up the sun. Nice. Happy making.

I have seen people sit outside coffee shops here in the UK, but they don't seem very happy about it.