Winter

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Snowfall in Salcombe is a rare event, the last time being back in 2010 around December. Snow has such a delightful quality in quietening us down. Sounds are muted, children play, boots crunch along paths and skylines look pregnant with expectation. To paraphrase the Prayer Book the fever of the world is briefly hushed. So although there is a lot of inconveniences to this with schools closing - there is also in me a sudden spring of joy. I can't quite explain it. Yippee!! 

I was struck by the recent debates on depression/anxiety being more than just a chemical imbalance or the result of trauma. There is good evidence to show that the near epidemic of depression has some roots in our technocratic lifestyles. Depression and anxiety are a natural animal response to an environment which is not right. We were not made to be working all hours for very little pay. We were not made to be constantly bombarded with images of what we should or should not look like. We are not made to be living in places where air pollution is so bad. 

Snow for a brief while gives us a glimpse of what life could be. 

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