This is the fulcrum between what has been and what is to come, heavy arms that are balanced finely on this point, this now, this me, a V so finely tuned that as you stop here to feel the balance, you can sense the harmonics of this moment of weightlessness between the two weights we all carry.

The snow has filled our world. Everywhere is white, smooth, beautiful. It feathers even the thinnest twigs and bunches its blessing on all the leaves. It sits quietly in the cold, cold air, its reason for coming, its permission to stay.

Another still day, another day of grey skies and damp air, of bare branches and soggy remnants of leaves underfoot. This is so often our winter, not the frosty cold-hugging landscapes we imagine from another season. The little is seems to offer is its own gift, a resting in tune with the trees, a solitude and solace, a place of peace.

Still. Cold. The sky is white with the glaze of the early sun but will soon turn a crisp blue. It is bigger in winter, a backdrop to the bare branches, the dark bones of sleeping trees. Frost has numbed the air and the leaves but not the birds. There are blue tits in the tree above me, and a robin who comes to call each time I am here. The sounds of the street are muffled and seem a world away. For this moment the garden, the air, the peace, are the only reality.

The sun is welcoming in the new year. It has swept away the clouds, the wind, the grey sky, the damp air. It sits like a queen in her blue heaven dispensing blessing, bringing balm. We can all sit under her touch, knighted and ready for this new beginning, empowered to play our part.