Apparently today is the gloomiest day of the year. Nothing to look forward to, festive period well in the past, totally skint and payday still a week away, resolutions all broken, spring still far away, skies still dark, SAD well and truly setting in…

Pshaw. Humbug.

In fact, today is the day when I first had a sense that the days are lengthening again. It is still pitch black when the alarm goes off in the morning, but the afternoons are getting longer. Coming home from work, I could see actual light in the sky. Not bright light, not what you would call daylight. But not nightdark either. The days are getting longer! They are, they are!

And it is always in about January that I get spring cleaning fever. I have been tidying up. My living room is still remarkably tidy, I’ve organised most of my books (and have a decent pile for chucking out) and installed a new bookcase for Ariel’s books. I’ve been actually cooking again, proper food. I’ve finally shaken off the winter bug that I’ve had since before Christmas. I’ve done about seven hundred loads of washing, including blankets. I am keeping resolutions I didn’t even make. We are going for walks again. Gloucester hasn’t flooded.

Spring is coming. It is, it is.
The sun is returning, and soon there will be flowers.