Thank you, tonyav and Prudie. No, not in France but in glorious E. Riding. Seriously - blue skies all day, been outside in a jumper (no coat needed) and got a load of washing dried (very romantic!). Birds tweeting, snowdrops bobbing in drifts under the hedges - where else to be? Am going to ring a friend in France to commiserate with him on the terribly cold weather they are experiencing - he got back home, switched heating on and was flooded ; a radiator had frozen and split down the middle.