Winter in Britain is cold and dark – and while it can be beautiful, I can’t wait for spring to arrive to chase the gloom away

On first arrival from Hong Kong, the cold and dark of the British winter was a novelty – frosted fields, snowy scenes and cosy evenings in front of a log fire
This year, the novelty has worn off with storms as strong as some Hong Kong typhoons. With the days growing ever shorter, I am counting down to spring already

Cliff Buddle

Published: 2:15pm, 19 Nov 2023

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Corrected [3:02pm, 20 Nov, 2023]

[3:02pm, 20 Nov, 2023]
A kilometre per hour figure converted to miles per hour was written, wrongly, as miles/h in an earlier version of this story.

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The onset of winter, when darkness descends, the temperature plummets and the rain is incessant, was always going to be one of the more challenging aspects of returning to Britain after many years in Hong Kong.

Last winter, my first back in the country, had some novelty value. The frost on the fields was beautiful. The snow, in December, created magical Christmas-card scenes. And cosy evenings in front of a log fire appealed.

Now I will find out how quickly that novelty wears off. The rain in recent weeks has been relentless, with Britain being battered by storms.

Hong Kong’s typhoons linger long in the memory. I usually needed to dash for the last ferry to get back to Lantau Island as the No 8 storm signal was hoisted. There were times when my rooftop needed bailing out.

The gates of the Star Ferry terminal in Tsim Sha Tsui are closed as severe Tropical Storm Kompasu nears Hong Kong in 2021. When the No 8 storm signal is hoisted, ferry services in Hong Kong are suspended. Photo: Sam Tsang

Storm Ciarán, which hit Britain this month, was effectively a typhoon, bringing wind speeds of up to 161km/h (100 mph), strong enough for a No 10 signal in Hong Kong.

Roofs were ripped off houses in some parts of the country and there was widespread flooding. In Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, residents felt they had been struck by a tornado. Hailstones, meanwhile, were said to have been as big as golf balls.

Waves crash over Newhaven Lighthouse and the harbour wall in Newhaven, southern England, during Storm Ciarán. Photo: AP

The weather in my part of Kent, thankfully, was much milder. The tall pine trees in the garden creaked alarmingly, but survived. We escaped the flooding, although my pond now looks more like a lake. The windows in the shed were blown in. And the lawn is carpeted with fallen leaves.

But it is the dark, rather than the weather, that comes as the biggest shock as winter arrives. It crept up on me and then pounced when British Summer Time ended and the clocks went back an hour, on October 29.

Sunset is now at 4.20pm. The days will continue to get shorter until the winter solstice, on December 22, by which time there will be less than eight hours of daylight.

The streetlights go on early on a winter afternoon in Folkestone, Kent, England. Photo: Shutterstock

This has a dramatic impact on daily life. There are no street lights in the village. Walks need to be taken in the afternoon. Many shops in the area close at 4pm.

I have dug out my heavy winter coat, waterproof boots, and woolly hat and gloves. Soon I will need to scrape the ice off my car windscreen before venturing out onto treacherous roads.

All you can do is hunker down, light a fire, cook some hot food, open a bottle of wine and look forward to spring. Only 122 days to go.