This morning I was once again heading out before dawn to go to work. The night had been short and getting up had been hard. I could have stumbled sleepily into a half-hearted rant about being too old still to be doing this .

Instead, I bundled myself into my coat, stepped outside and started the short walk to the railway platform.

It was not quite dawn. We’d had fresh snow during the night but the sky was clear, the temperature was a pleasant 3 degrees Centigrade (37 degrees Fahrenheit) with absolutely no wind.

My head immediately cleared, my spirits lifted and I began to enjoy the day.

My village is at about 690 meters  (2,200 feet), looking out over the Lake Geneva and Swiss and French Alps. My nearest railway station was built as a halt for the Chateau that it sits immediately beneath. It has a country feel, even though it’s almost in the main village.

I stood alone on the platform, watching the sky lighten and the snow on the mountains start to gleam and suddenly I felt privileged to be up early enough to experience this.

The picture below is what my smartphone saw.

What I saw was little more magical: sharper, more beautiful and more alive, but this is the best that I can do to share it.