Independent: A curious thought keeps nagging at me and will not go away: have we just seen the last cold winter? Here we are in full daffodil mode, lilacs winding themselves up and getting ready to burst open, the blackthorn blossom already out and the official start of spring only four days away, and although I am as elated as you are at the prospect of life being colour and warmth and light once more, and happily kiss goodbye the freezing winter just gone, still the thought intrudes: was it the …