Same here, with all that mild and wet weather. Wasn’t someone looking for a home for her goats on SF the other day? 
One of them would do the trick ( although I would like to keep my flower beds intact) 
This is the norm it seems, I am learning, Mike! 
The up-side seems to be the resilience of the flora.
We have an ancient and decrepit cerisier which suffered what looked like terminal frostbite last year, and some gnarled, wizzened and moss-encrusted branches snapped and hung by a thread to the trunk.
I tied them up pathetically with nylon rope, they looked painful! But it went on to produce a huge crop of juicy cherries even on the damaged boughs, and the birds left the fruit alone.
Some gardening wonders defy yooman explanation, c’est comme ça.
When in UK I generally pruned late autumn/ early winter to get the garden ‘tidy’ for the winter. I applied that same rule when I first came to France (Charente) about 15 years ago and lost several plants to the cold winters.
However, the climate is changing and the very cold winters (-12+) seem to have gone for the time being.
Although I am still cautious I feel slightly happier to prune hard in early winter again
I have just spent a week pruning everything I missed in the autumn due to other commitments and notice that everything is bursting into bud. I think we must be a good two weeks early this year.
PS: Noticed loads of grues/ cranes going north yesterday afternoon . A good sign of warm weather arriving.
Oh my goodness me Jane. Your posting on Feb 3rd was so prescient. Les Saint de Glace Monday, through Wednesday this coming week. And what are we getting? A blast of cold air from the north. 
Time to cover the small tomato plants I put in a couple of weeks ago.
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