When icicles hang by the wall

    And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,

And Tom bears logs into the hall,
    And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
    To-whit! To-who!—a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doe blow,
    And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
    And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
    To-whit! To-who!—a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

William Shakespeare  Love's Labour’s Lost, Act V. Sc. II

Four centuries on from Shakespeare’s description of winter’s impact on human life, it doesn't seem as though much has changed. From red noses to chilly fingers, from the need to keep warm to the plight of birds in a snow-covered world, from coughs and colds to roads and paths difficult to negotiate, Shakespeare’s world and ours are closer than we might have thought and I find that rather reassuring.

Love’s Labour’s Lost is a comedy and laughter always helps to ease us through the ups and downs of life, so here is a twenty-first century glimpse of the comic side of winter.