I have, of course, experienced winter before. In fact, I’ve got nearly 30 of them under my belt, so, I am familiar with, for example, the short evenings. Like, the moment you look around at a darkened sky suddenly, thinking: “How has it possibly just turned 4pm?”

Or, when the boiler breaks in the middle of December, which is a classic. Mine did one year in university and I remember running from the shower back to bed, to get under the covers to pull on my clothes.

But this year, winter feels different. Because, as we all know, this is not a normal year. The third lockdown of the pandemic was announced on Monday 4 January by Boris Johnson. After headlines talking about new strains, some more contagious or less affected by the vaccine, it was obvious that action needed to be taken to keep the country safe. But what a depressing time to do it, eh?

Lockdown 3: how to cope with short evenings and less time outside