I lived in Germany for thirteen years mostly near Munich and some years we had really great winters. Now back in the UK  it’s basically always wet, cold and windy, it’s winter with none of the good bits.

I remember a lot of snow clearing, the endless fight to get a parking space, clear a parking space from snow  and prevent the car being buried by the daily passing snowploughs. And how after a few days of -10 to -20, a temperature of only -3 or -5 then felt relatively warm. Of scraping ice off the insides of car windows, handbrake turns and drifting around corners, the woods looking like Narnia, that wonderful sound of snow crunching underfoot, snowball fights and sledging. Decent winters.

Houses in Germany are built and insulated really well and cars have winter wheels with a set of winter tyres,  the country is well set up for winter conditions. I miss decent winters but, when it’s mild that’s good too.