Whither the withering winters of yesteryear?

Damien Enright looks at the sacrifices we make in the cold to be outdoors and whether or not they're worth it.

Although the temperature was a least two degrees above freezing, the dense, damp fog leeched a deep chill into the very marrow of our bones, and I think I felt colder in that Hertfordshire ‘Country Garden’ than I ever felt in the January streets of New York despite below-zero temperatures and a blast off the Hudson River that brought the wind chill factor down to -30C.

Trees, and family members, loomed out of the fog in the arboretum, and I thought “What the hell are we doing here?! Outdoors is great but at the cost of a week indoors in bed!” Someone had to voice the question, and as soon as I did so, I found all-round assent.