The clocks went back at 2am on Sunday 25 October. We gained an hour, which we spent asleep, and in exchange it will now be dark by teatime until roughly March. Not, on reflection, a brilliant deal.
There is a school of thought that says one should embrace the darker months: brisk walks, bracing air, coming home with rosy cheeks and a sense of achievement. We admire these people enormously, from the sofa. For everyone else, here are ten small things that make the long evenings considerably more bearable and, on a good night, rather lovely.
1. A candle, lit at an unreasonably early hour
There is no rule that says a candle has to wait until after dinner, and by half past four in November, frankly, all bets are off. Our candles + home fragrance collection has something for every kind of evening, from the cosy to the faintly sophisticated. The faintly sophisticated ones are what we light when people are coming round and we would like them to think we always live like this.
2. A throw, and ideally a spare
Every sofa needs one good blanket. Every household, in our experience, needs one more than it currently owns, purely to avoid the quiet, simmering negotiation over who gets it. Our bedding, blankets + throws run from the light and floaty to the properly heavy sort that turns any film, however gripping, into a nap.
3. More cushions than strictly necessary
A sofa that was perfectly comfortable in July somehow needs reinforcements by November. Nobody knows why. It is one of life's great mysteries, along with where the other sock goes. A few new cushions in deeper, warmer colours will make a room feel ready for winter, and nobody has to get the paint out.
4. Lamps, and a firm word about the big light
The big light has its uses. Finding a dropped earring. Hoovering. Interrogations. Cosy, however, it is not. Two or three lamps at different heights will do more for a room on a dark evening than any amount of redecorating, and our lighting collection is full of pieces that look every bit as good switched off.
5. A pot of tea, made with a certain amount of ceremony
A teabag in a mug is perfectly adequate. A pot of tea at five o'clock, with the curtains drawn and nothing in particular to do, is an occasion. Our tea + coffee collection has everything required for either, and we will not judge which you choose, mainly because we know which one we
