Thursday 19th December

Why is it that some days we really feel the cold.  It obviously has something to do with the actual temperature, but there is something else going on here too.  Yesterday (Tuesday) I was cold at work all day.  I walk the dogs before seven most mornings and had just grabbed my jacket and hat in the morning as usual, I didn’t even zip it up, and maybe the house had been really warm but it felt quite refreshing to be walking along by the river with a faint breeze and the sky lightening to the South.  I didn’t feel cold at all.  And even walking after my morning coffee through Green Park, squirrels being chased by small dogs and the wet leaves in clumps waiting to be collected, I was quite at peace with the world.

It was when I was seated at the Restaurant I work at on a Tuesday that I began to feel cold.  They had a couple of parties upstairs and the door to the corridor was propped open for easy access to the kitchen.  I guess the back door must have been open as I kept getting a cold draft across my back and shoulders.  I had come out without a cardigan or scarf and struggling to the tube against the evening driving rain I was really cold.  All the way home I couldn’t get warm and especially that last long walk from the DLR to the house was against a cold spitty driving drizzle that seemed to go right through me.

This morning too, I am feeling the cold, wrapped up with extra layers and a scarf too I cannot quite seem to get warm.  But I don’t think the actual temperature outside has noticeably dropped.  Maybe my own resistance has slipped a bit, maybe I am about to start a cold (just in time for Christmas), maybe it is just pre-holiday blues when you really want to be away but the last couple of days still have to be knocked out.   So I am sitting here in Pret, nursing a coffee and trying to preserve any warmth I can.