It is dark and wet today. The rain comes and goes, but it is always just behind the corner. Although most of it is no more than annoying drizzle, which many people endeavor to ignore by not even opening the umbrellas they are clutching in their hands, on occasion it falls in earnest. As I look at glimmering pavements and roofs, though, I cannot but see snow all around me. The snow that has failed to materialize on account of unseasonably high temperatures. Indeed, it is quite warm today. And it is likely that much of the coming winter will be rather similar. Time and again, the snow will keep failing to materialize. That it, it will keep raining for days, weeks, months. In the end, the winter will have failed to materialize, too. Just like today’s snow.