Today's present.

7:57am.

I have this unfortunate habit of waking up a few minutes before my alarm every morning and checking the time on my phone, then lying in the darkness, wrapped up and toasty, trying to enjoy these last precious few moments before I have to face the music - literally, as my alarm is set to 'radio', so I often wake up to BBC Radio 1's club tunes or Nick Grimshaw's relaxed Northern drawls - and the day truly begins.

   However, this morning I woke up precisely thirty-three minutes before my alarm was due to go off. So as I lay in bed, enjoying this glorious half hour of dozing while battling emotional turmoil about the prospect of eventually putting both feet on the floor, I started thinking of all the possible excuses I could make for not coming in to my lectures today. I live too close to campus to make the "I just couldn't face the walk" excuse. The lecture is two hours long, so I can't use the "overslept slightly" excuse. It's my first lecture of this module, so the "I won't miss anything" line is unacceptable... Oh, well. There's no way I'm getting out of this, so I'd better just deal with it. I have work tonight, too, and I need to come to terms with that. I could hear myself sighing from where I'd burrowed far, far down into the duvet.

Buzz. "All ma life I wan' money an' power, respect my mind or die from lead shower, I pray ma ____ get as big as th' Effiel Tower, so I can ____ the world for seventy-two hours..."

Good morning, Radio 1. Yet again I wonder, why do I listen to you in the mornings? I miss Chris Evans and Moira - I stopped listening to Radio 2, because it made me miss home too much. I regret it now, but I can't be bothered to re-tune my radio...

I have a solid black blind over my window. Mind you, it's always dark at this time of day now, so there's not much point in drawing it just yet. I switch on my light, and my fairy lights, go into the bathroom and flip the switch on the shower, come back into my room, think "why not?" and pull up the black blind.

   And I see white. Solid white, flurrying white, sprinklings of white, white dancing in the air. I'd forgotten all that hope I'd had last night, and all that time I'd spent on the phone to my little sister saying "I smell snow! Stick your head out the window!" I'd forgotten how I'd watched snow-related episodes of Gilmore Girls all evening, and made myself a mug of mint hot chocolate, and fallen asleep with my fingers crossed. Hello, snow. I greet you with a squeak, a squeal and a great deal of dancing around the house as I open all the curtains so your beauty is fully appreciated.

It's that time of year when suddenly everyone on our Facebook news feeds is a weather expert, Twitterers are getting snap happy and posting multiple pictures of snow in their back gardens, Instagram is orgasming over the millions of pretty edits and different angles of snow on trees and cars, the TV news is just "it's snowing"...

   Yes, people are annoying when it snows. Yes, after the eleventh status or hundredth tweet it does get a little boring. Yes, after a day or two the excitement will have died down and we'll all be sick of it. So what? Enjoy it while you can!   I have an epic essay to work on today, no food in the house, and I miss my family... But this will not stop me from walking around Stanmore with my headphones in, taking photos of the park in its beautiful white state, making endless cups of hot chocolate, calling home, visiting friends, watching more Gilmore Girls... I'm having my snow day.

"I was sure that some Fairy Godmother had done it just for me... It was my little present... When it snows, something inside me says 'hey, it's your present'... I'm gonna walk around, enjoy my present a little." - Lorelai Gilmore.