Unlike the warmth and splendour enjoyed and even taken for granted in some parts of the world, at present, my garden and environs are encased in the cold white and grey of winter.

With summer long gone, grass blades rigid and brown, and with fountains frozen and squirrels huddling in trees, I too muse and wait – and wonder if my own stiffness, frozen hands and failing arteries might be enlivened by a stroll in some warmer clime.

Perhaps a visit to an indoor garden or a butterfly conservatory will have to suffice. Maybe I'll take my grandkids.