Winter is a good time for reflection and quiet imaginings.

You know you have found the one constant companion for the rest of your life; that is the gold standard achievement. The quiet Winter days and those nights that start at tea-time can be used to dream and plan of how to tell the world that here is the life-partner for you, here is the one that I love.

Nature can be in tune with these thoughts

Old December’s bareness everywhere! Those branches waving in the wind, reaching upwards, each sub branch and twig delineated clearly against a cold, hard blue or white or grey. They echo the lines of thought going through our heads, those neural pathways splitting and branching with different combinations and routes to happiness. Grass and pavements are alive with scudding leaves amid swirling eddies of wind. They echo our myriad thoughts and confusions until, as the wind dies down, our thoughts calm and decisions are made in the light of advice and help.

What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen!

But what a great contrast to come out of that winter into the green-shooted Spring and the approaching nuptials. Such a great word, ‘nuptials’! It really sums up the joy and celebration of a public statement of love and a commitment to one person. In other words, a wedding. The welling over of happiness will be absolute to the point of being hardly able to stand but you will, because you have your mate next to you. Winter is the time to see the way forward; make the big decisions; assemble a team of collaborators; and to set the controls to the heart of your sun