Winter always catches me by surprise – I adore the changing of seasons and revel in summer’s last breath as the days get slightly shorter and leaves begin to turn the almost otherworldly colour of dusty sunsets; but this glorious change-over is always too short and now winter has it hands strongly gripped around my world.

I find myself shuffling around in too-big sheepskin slippers looking like a dishevelled Eritrean peasant and smelling like an S&M fiend (heated rubber odour from the hot water bottle clutched constantly to my shivering body).

My home office is in an upstairs room that doesn’t get the sunlight until mid afternoon. The consequence is that I find myself jumping up every half an hour to seek the sun outside. It’s not exactly an efficient way to keep warm, nor does it assist in putting some kind of dent in my workload, but it has become something of an addiction.

I’m not sure if it’s the weather or the current workload that makes my mind wander to just about any thought not connected with what I’m supposed to be researching or writing. I keep moving my workspace around in my head – inserting different pieces of furniture and finding other places for my books to live. I feel an almost overwhelming desire to dive into bed and surround myself with delectable nibbles and disappear into a book that’ll take me away from all of this.

My computer’s insistent bleeping that some form of communication has arrived (e-mail, skype) has become irrationally irritating and I’ve uttered more obscenities at the stupid machine this morning than I usually do in a week. Maybe Monday has something to do with it too.

Perhaps it’s something else entirely; I know myself well enough to realise that an irrational response to inanimate objects is a sign of some kind of emotional dis-ease.

I should just get back to work – I’ve always found that getting lost in the links between scientific thoughts and ideas a good way to ease the mind and soothe emotion. I may even throw off the peasant disguise and take my electronic irritant out into the garden so I can gaze in awe at the few leaves hanging on to their fading green hue and breathe in the sharply cold air that’s only just touched by sunshine.

Here’s to defying a wintery mood on a wintery Monday. I trust you’ll find some kind of antidote to your particular weather pattern – environmental or emotional.