ELIZABETH JACKSON: Hello, I'm Elizabeth Jackson. As part of the ABC's summer season we now present a current affairs special.

While you're listening to this there's a good chance you're out in the sun doing something or, this being the holiday season, perhaps you're doing nothing.

After all summer is when we relax and take stock, not just because it's Christmas and the end of the year but also because the weather demands it.

On the other side of the globe the weather makes similar demands, only in the northern hemisphere it's not the sun that encourages people to slow down but the bitter cold of winter.

But not everyone kicks back when the snow and ice forces them inside. For artists and composers it can be a highly creative time.

Rock star Sting has embarked on his own musical odyssey through winter, creating a new album that has the season as its central theme.

Our Moscow correspondent Scott Bevan, who has learned to love

Source: ABC Online