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Tuesday, 8 January 2013

Thing To Do Today: shiver.

I'm wrapped in furry stuff, but I'm still shivering.

No, I know that it's not really that cold here in England, especially when you consider that the district of Oymyakon in Russia has a record high January temperature of -14C. But even 7C is quite cold enough for me.

Of course if you're in Oodnadatta in South Australia, which registered a temperature of  50.7 C on the 2nd January 1960, then you won't be shivering with cold.

But there are other reasons to shiver.

Shiver with awe at a mountain dawn, or an infant, or the exquisite shininess and grace of a single blade of grass.

Shiver with fear at...well, footsteps coming up from behind can be pretty terrifying. And so can cats jumping onto your bed in the middle of the night, especially when you haven't got a cat. And as for kebab vans...

You could sail close enough to the wind to make your sails shiver.

You could take a piece of ice or glass and shiver it into a thousand pieces.

Or, best of all, you could shiver with delight:

 
If all else fails, get someone to say once upon a time to you. A shiver of anticipation then is almost guaranteed.
 
Thing To Do Today: shiver. This word may be a variation of chevelen, which means to chatter (as in teeth), from the Old English ceafl, which means jowl.


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