Riding in winter

Do you know nothing about seasons in this country. FYI -

Spring starts around may 15th and ends 2 weeks later.
Summer starts 1st June and ends mid/late August.
Autumn is another word for september, though winter does often start early.

If you can't walk round very comfortable in a pair of jeans, t-shirt and hoodie / light jumper, then it is winter.

Summer is usually defined by it being warm enough to wear shorts, but not here - clearly no-one in their right minds ever wears shorts in this country, apart from during very occasional freakily hot sunshine every 2-3 years.

So if I'm walking around in shorts it's not winter. Dons shorts, proves point.

But if you want to get technical, it depends on what you consider winter, there's lots of mass debate online:

Astronomically, it starts with the winter solstice (around December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere and June 21 in the Southern Hemisphere), and ends with the spring equinox (around March 21 in the Northern Hemisphere and September 21 in the Southern Hemisphere). In meteorology, it is by convention counted instead as the whole months of June, July and August in the Southern Hemisphere and December, January and February in the Northern Hemisphere.

However, in the United Kingdom and Ireland the winter solstice is traditionally considered as midwinter, the winter season beginning November 1 on All Hallows or Samhain. Winter ends and spring begins on Imbolc or Candlemas, which is February 1 or 2. This system of seasons is based on the length of days exclusively. The three-month period of the shortest days and weakest solar radiation occurs during November, December and January in the Northern Hemisphere (May-July in the Southern).