The First Day of Winterval

The beauty of Winterval is that, being a moveable feast, so to speak, one can choose to begin and end it whenever one pleases.  So I've decided that today is the first day of the all-inclusive Winter festival.  Mainly on account of the fact that I finished work for this year yesterday - I'm on leave for the next week and a half.  After going for a straight fifteen weeks without a day off (excepting weekends, obviously), I'm exhausted.  The last week, in particular, which was meant to have been a quiet week, coasting toward Christmas, turned into a trial thanks to forces beyond my control.  Anyway, getting back to this opening day of the Winterval festivities, I can't say that I've done anything particularly debauched today - just a bit of shopping.  I'm glad to see that the media have their annual 'Christmas misery' story early - every year they like to try and put a downer on proceedings with wall-to-wall coverage of natural disasters, famines, wars or just snow.  This year it is the fact that it is raining.  The torrential rain has allowed them to gleefully report on the extreme travel difficulties people are encountering as they try to get away for Christmas.  (It all makes me glad I'm staying at home).  There's nothing like the prospect of someone's Christmas being ruined to make the media happy.