The fluffy snow that had covered everything the previous days had started to disappear, and I took a walk around its edge, looking for paths I had not noticed. Everything was in the shades of dark trees and the white snow, obliterating any paths that others had trodden, so I set off through a rarely visited part where the trees and branches were fairly widely spaced, walking in a direction likely to take me home. To my surprise, I saw another man wandering in a vaguely opposite direction, smoking a cigarette. We greeted, commenting on the weather (what else!) and I continued on. But I had the impression, from his appearance, that he had nowhere to go - while I had a wife and home.