The weather outside is frightful...

I love snow. I am unashamedly, unconditionally fascinated and delighted by it. I know it can be inconvenient and cold, I know it can make driving tricky and treacherous, I even know that it will eventually turn to slushy grey goo that will remain inconvenient, cold, tricky and treacherous long after the beauty of it has departed.

But in spite of all of these very adult concerns, my inner child somehow manages to shout just that bit louder. Snow is still magical. It transforms the world. The mundanity of our every day lives is over turned by the eerie, twinkling silence of snow light.

And in amongst the acres of media coverage that this latest blizzard has inspired, one of the hoards of on location reporters made a comment that seemed both incredibly obvious and largely overlooked. She noted, with a tone that spoke of mild surprise, that the harried commuters and parents who were ultimately forced to turn back from their morning journeys hardly seemed to mind at all. Seemed in fact, somewhat gladdened and lightened by this interruption to their routine.

Well, quite. We all need a time out from life sometimes and a snow day, particularly one which disrupts work or school, is, whatever else it may be, a gift of time. An untouchable little bubble of freedom, particularly at this most depressing point in the year. Even the most contented amongst us might relish the opportunity to race around on a snowy hill at the same time of day we are usually settled down in the office, or to sip hot chocolate coiled on the sofa rather than dealing with the usual stresses and strains of the working week.

I think however, that such relief can be cruel when it speaks to some larger dissatisfaction. How can you tell whether it is a break from the usual routine you need or some kind of more sweeping change? And even if it is a change you need, how can you go about finding it?

The thing is, snow melts. The magic leaves. The usual demands reassert themselves. But what do you do when the world returns to normal, and you don't want to?