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With the duvet wrapped around the body like a securing shield protecting you from the elements that struggle to penetrate from the outside, you move your shoulders ever so slightly to feel the comfort the blanket brings. A shudder of warmth moves around your skin and your cheeks uncontrollably lift in appreciation. As a smile creeps its way around the front of your face, you realise it is morning. You realise you have woken.

Not wanting to open your eyes just yet, you allow the feeling of snugness to last just a little longer, and despite the mind slowly coming around to the world of the conscious, you insist on just a few more moments of this unadulterated pleasure. Tugging the duvet ever closer to your skin, you allow yourself to remember the evening before. The fun and the laughter that, just like the duvet is now, prevents the cold from getting grip and ensures the warmth stays all around.

You recall the jokes and the giggles of a night spent in good company, you recall the conversation, the questions and the answers that flowed so freely. As you lay there, still with a smile adorning your face, you wonder if you are the only one awake. For the millions of people who are in a similar position, there are only one or two that really matter in this moment of blissful contentedness. As curiosity begins to take hold, you again move just a little to feel the security the duvet brings.

With a deliberate larghissimo pace, you begin to open your eyes. As focus takes control, you fill your lungs with the sweet air and the previously subtle lifting of the cheeks improves to a full-blown smile. A smile you will never likely forget for the rest of your life. As if to be looking in a mirror, you see a smile looking straight back at you. Without a care in the world, you just lay there in the reflected gaze of one another.

Outside the coldness has been eating away at the world. It has dug its claws into whatever it can and gripped so hard it has cut through the very fabric of nature. People hurry around at a slow pace, not wanting to be outside any longer than they have to be, but equally so, wanting to take care in the bitter and perilous conditions. It would seem all has gone mad, the temperature getting the better of most.

But in that moment, that shared moment from within the protective comfort of the bed covers, an eternal warmth is felt on a harsh winter’s morning.