Chill

– Perhaps not as cold today.
– Sorry?
– I said perhaps it is not as cold today.
– It's just that I couldn't hear you for my teeth chattering.
– In fact, it's positively mild at the moment.
– Perhaps you have just acclimatised and are now insensitive to the cold. As to so much else.
– I turned the central heating up a good two degrees.
– Quite. I must have caught a chill at the weekend.
– That was a bracing walk, wasn't it?
– It's a pity it didn't actually snow. Biting cold winds numbing you from head to toe are all very well, but it's not a patch on getting buried in snow. The few flakes that came down were almost an insult. Do your worst, you wanted to shout at the elements. I dare you to throw all you've got at me.
– Really? I thought you looked frozen as it was.
– Nonsense: I normally have a slightly blue complexion. I was all for a dip in the canal, if only I had brought something to break the ice.
– There wasn't that much ice. The ducks were paddling about quite happily.
– They don't know any better. I suspect they are quite well insulated. It's as if I were to walk along wrapped up in my duvet.
– I thought you were.