I quite like the dark evenings. I have pleasant childhood memories of this time of year- with the bonfires and the smell of dead leaves and the buttered crumpets for tea.

And then there are the winter stars. It makes me happy to be seeing the Pleiades again.

Remember that I live in the land of sun, light and long daylight hours so that has become part of my psyche. I didn't use to have issues with the shorter daylight hours but...age does what it will.

I don't like being cold. That's something that's come with age. As a young person I barely noticed. I can remember walking barefoot in the snow- and I wouldn't do that now.

Indeed. We did not have heating in our home here for many years (just a fireplace and space heaters) and it would get very cold inside as homes here are built to withstand the heat but not necessarily the cold. About 10 years ago we had heating and aircon installed and I wonder how we survived before. I detest feeling overly cold or warm. And I only started feeling the cold acutely within the last 10 years or so.