IT’S January – there aren’t many people who would rate January as one of their favourite months. You have to get rid of the Christmas and New Year excesses, it’s dark and cold, and seems a very long month.

It’s named after the Roman god, Janus, protector of gates and doorways and symbolising beginnings and endings. Janus is depicted as having two heads, one to look forward to the new year and one to look back, very handy I must say. Originally, the Roman calendar had 10 months starting in March, until January and February were added, and Julius Caesar added the 31st of the month – joker.

Whilst we are negotiating the depths of winter, January does begin to yield some optimism. By the middle of the month, the days are 15 minutes longer than they were on January 1 and will lengthen with increasing speed. Soon we will be coming home in the daylight.

There are positive signs. I was driving out of the village the other day and daffodils were showing, bobbing their yellow heads in the chilly wind. Snowdrops are also out – is there a more cheery flower? They have natural anti-freeze, there’s over 2,500 species and, although the bulbs are mildly poisonous, a drug is extracted used in treating Alzheimer’s disease. Quite a performer.

It’s only a few weeks till our early nesting birds, herons, will start their broods and rooks will enjoy a noisy argument with the neighbours in the tops of tall trees, as they refurbish their nests. And then it’s spring.

So let’s take a leaf out of Janus’ book and his forward-looking face and look with anticipation to the better days that aren’t so far away. But I’m not sure I’ll dust off the barbecue just yet, Geraldine requires significantly higher temperatures than we are having now.