When we decided to move to Sweden, our family’s concerns were around immigration laws, safety, healthcare and education. So it was weird that the overwhelming warning that all recent immigrants had for us was about how to cope during winter.

They told us to invest in thermals, buy a SAD lamp and make sure that we had a large supply of vitamin D, that it would take years to get used to the long, dark, dreary months. I admit I scoffed at these warnings. I grew up in the central belt of Scotland - if you look up dreich and bleak in the dictionary there were the places I called home.

Still, three weeks into our new Northern European life I understand what they meant. Even in Malmö, south of Sweden, it feels overwhelmingly dark, creating a sort of timeless limbo - like a Vegas casino with no clocks or windows. When you wake up, it feels like early evening, and during the day, when you’re quite sure it’s time to rush your toddler home for dinner, bath and bed you realise that it is only 2pm.

However, unlike my childhood family, who basically utilised telly, booze and the occasional blow-out brawl to cope with the winter, the Swedes have a whole bag of tricks. So what can we learn from them to make these months without sunshine more bearable?

The first phrase you have to learn is "there is no bad weather, only bad clothing". In Sweden you can be outside because clothes are made for........

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