I bloody hate February.
With each day that passes the leafless trees, the bare fields, the unrelenting grey skies and the cold, dark nights imprint themselves more indelibly onto your consciousness, so that by this time of the month it's almost impossible to imagine the world being any other way. The memories of Christmas and New Year that got you through January have faded too much to be of any help, and spring is still too far in the future to be more than wishful thinking.
And this year it has an extra sodding day in it!
It seems that a more positive attitude is called for. So I took a break from the alien invasion story I've spent nearly three years trying to pummel into a form where I can begin posting some of it, and re-read Goodbye Master Stokes. I couldn't believe how good the first three chapters were compared to the stuff I'm currently drafting. More than one of you has said this is the best work I've produced, and at last I'm beginning to understand why.
So there was one shot in the arm. If I can do it once I can do it again.
Another came from good old auntie Beeb, and the fantastically high standard of writing in dramas such as Dickensian - you're a good man, Inspector Bucket! - and in particular Shetland.
And finally I have to mention Caipirinha. Not the drink, but the song by the criminally underrated Swing Out Sister. Watch this video and try to keep a grin off your face. You won't succeed.
Only nine more days and it's March...
Comments
watch videos
I like to watch videos of people doing stuff on sunny hot days when its cold and dreary outside.
It's bloody 57deg F outside,
It's bloody 57deg F outside, last year I had 7 feet of snow on the ground. count your bloody blessings, oh, sod it
Not only that ...
It's been generally mild, wet and windy since the beginning of November (ironically, November first was a stunning day here in glorious Derbyshire) so our usual walks are reduced to soggy, saturated fields with mud everywhere. I'm definitely not a Christmas/New Year fan so it cheers me up a little when all that overwhelming nonsense is behind us for another 9 months or so.
I've been following Shetland on the iPlayer now I've found sub-titles to help my indifferent hearing but I find that the last episode is apparently being delayed because of a bloody rugby match on Friday evening. A game totally incomprehensible to me despite being forced to play it for 4 years back in the 1950s and of no interest whatsoever. I haven't been tempted by Dickensian though I've noticed it's dragging on somewhat - 20+ episodes? - and so impossible to bother with now.
Life gets tedious, don't it? :) Cheer up Nikki. Only another 6 months and it'll be autumn again :)
Robi
Dickensian
Only 20 Episodes. The last one is tonight.
I agree with you about the saturated ground frustrating any walking. The wind has been a pest as well. I tried to walk along the sea-wall at Farlington Marshes Reserve yesterday. Almost got blown into Portsmouth Harbour. I took refuge and did a walk along the old railway trackbed of the Alton-Fareham line near Soberton.
The Nice Thing About February ...
... is that the days are more than 1 hour longer at the end of it than they were at the beginning of it!
Which would be nice if the sun shone ...
Is There Something Nice About February Then ?
Well, if there is, it certainly aint the weather !
Perhaps the best thing about February is that it is shorter than any other month in the year. It only doesn't actually FEEL any shorter when we have to live it through though. Not in these parts anyway.
Briar
Sorry
It's high summer here and the skies are blue and the maximum temperatures are about 32 C. Mwahahahahaha!
That's about...
That's about 90 degrees F. So instead of the dog days of August, you have the dog days of February.
I do remember some years back, after a couple weeks of 105-degree weather, going by a bank thermometer, and thinking, "Oh how nice! Only 95 degrees!"
-- Daphne Xu (a page of contents)
True :)
We spent February 1999 cycle touring in New Zealand and, unusually we were told, had glorious weather even when riding up the west coast of South Island. Hardly any rain at all the whole time we were there. Riding east over the innocuously named Arthur's Pass was still bloody hard :) A lot harder than any famous Alpine or Pyrennean col we ever rode.
Best February ... ever!
Robi