Two things today – with little to tie them to each other…

First, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Three Shakespeare Songs. Absolutely beautiful.

And then, one of those silly but delightful things – that also happens to be wintry and festive: on this page, you can enter a name, a word, a phrase – or, actually, any string of numbers and letters, and watch as a correspondent snowflake emerges. As I said, silly but delightful – and, be warned, absurdly addictive too. You’ll begin with your name, and end doing snowflakes for everyone you know, favourite books, quotations, literary characters, beloved authors… The one up here is scribblings’ own pretty snowflake.

Have fun.