Small things

I have been chipping away at my bad mood with a lot of long frozen walks with the cold biting at my face. I love this weather. It makes my skin feel alive and I return feeling refreshed and sleepy. It turns out that much of my struggle with winter has been having to get up at 6am to commute into the city for work and now that I work at home where my lunchbreak is (on a good day) spent wandering through the woods I can much more appreciate the shattering cold of the day and the longer sleepful nights.

Because it has been so cold, I am now sleeping with two duvets, which means that I feel pleasantly weighted down when I get into bed. I'm not entirely sure that I need two duvets as I am a very warm person and an extremely warm sleeper, but my mother has become exceedingly concerned because I also like to sleep with my windows wide open so that my room is like a cryosphere when I come in at night.

qian bought me the Gideon the Ninth audiobook and I have been enjoying it so much! I tried to read the ebook last year and bounced off of it, I think in part because my reading focus was so poor. The audiobook is incredibly well done and really brings the characters to life. It has been a bright and unexpected pleasure.

One of the other things I've been really enjoying is seeing all the posts from my friends celebrating Lunar New Year. My Instagram feed is profligate with delicious food photos. I decided to treat myself to szechuan tofu from a new restaurant nearby, which I'm hoping is delicious - this particular part of London is wonderful for Greek, Polish and Jewish food, but less so for anything else. But my hope is eternal!