Cold weather is better than hot weather. For the discerning minority of us who grasp this objective fact, the current turning of the seasons brings a delicious thrill. And frankly, we deserve a delicious thrill – because life as a cold-appreciator most of the time is tough. There are the daily micro-aggressions of weather forecasters who refer to warm weather as “good”. There’s the dawning reality that our warming climate may gradually be shifting the entire calendar on behalf of the heat fetishists. But mid-October is our moment. Months of chilly days stretch out invitingly before us. At the office, our brains start functioning properly again; outside the office, open fires and hot whiskey drinks can finally replace sunburn, insect repellent and stifling humidity…

Crucially, cold weather also facilitates coziness – a phenomenon so important, and so ill-served by the weedy word “coziness”, that the Danes have made it a central part of their (unusually happy) culture. They call it “hygge”. Hygge can mean hot chocolate by the fire while it’s snowing outside, but it also implies camaraderie and intimacy: it’s a social coziness, a coming together with people we love, against the encroaching cold. I know sunshine enthusiasts have their equivalent pleasures: chilled drinks on a beach with friend, say. And they probably imagine they’re just as good. They are wrong.