More grumbling about the cold

You may have gathered that I do not like January. It is cold, dark, and awash with "flu-like viruses" (i.e. "it's worse than a cold, it's not flu, your guess is as good as mine but I feel grim").

With the exception of some birthdays of lovely people, it's been a month best spent indoors, with a supply of DVDs, hearty food and a cat. Hibernation is also a good way to save £££, as noted previously, which is useful in the lean post-Christmas, post-early-pay-cheque wilderness of the end of a long month.

Still, February dawns, and although also cold, dark and pestilent, it at least has the decency to be short. And at the end of it: Spring (by my reckoning at least). My favourite fact (from this site) - "the Anglo-Saxons called February "Sol-monath" (cake-month) because cakes were offered to the gods during that month". Good plan. Cake-month it is then.

Meanwhile here are some notable February-themed events:

1. Candlemas - 2nd February
Notable for being the mid point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, so we are 1/4 way towards midsummer already...... that was supposed to be a good thing, but now I read this and feel looming guilt at my lack of resolution progress. Tsk.

2. Groundhog Day - 2nd February also
In which a small mammal predicts an early spring or six more weeks of winter. According to the 13 groundhogs listed on Wikipedia, only five predict an early spring this year. Pants.

3. Valentine's Day
On which more another time.

4. Pancake Day
Which as a secular celebration is extra fun. Whereas in the past (or a stricter present) people would eat up all the fatty stuff before giving it up for Lent, now people (well, me anyway) eat all the fatty stuff and think "I'd forgotten how great pancakes are - let's do this again next week..."

5. New clothes in the shops
Are there blue and white clothes in the shops? Are some of them stripy? Do you look at them and think "Classic French resort wear, to be accessorised with a red handbag and a background of yachts", or even "Hmmm, perhaps it's time to stop wearing a duvet"? Then soon it will be Spring.