Back at the beginning of the year, I read an updated version of the 30 days has September rhyme for the days of the month. It ended with January having four million, or something. Sometimes, even that feels like an underestimate.

January is not my favourite month. It’s cold and dark, even if the days are beginning to lengthen, and the weather’s usually not that great, not for urban living. It’s a long month with nothing much going for it.

Of all of winter, January is the month I’d most like to hibernate through. Even looking back at the small pockets of joy I found in it this year. Something about it just drains my energy and optimism. And my enthusiasm for study: I noticed this last January too, although that might also have been the exhaustion of having a newborn and getting over the Dread Plague (Covid).

But this week. Ah, this week! Joyous end of January! And signs of Spring starting. On our almost daily walks, Tiny and I have noted the snowdrops blooming, and the daffodils preparing to bloom, and the crocuses poking up through the earth. Spring. Definitely Spring is in the air.

And then, this morning (yesterday morning by the time you read this), there was mention of a St Swithin’s effect for Candlemas, along the lines of: clear and bright, winter has another fight; but if it brings cloud and rain, winter won’t fight again. And it was cloudy and rainy all day, so with any luck, that’s winter done for another year. Maybe this summer will be a bit more of a summer than last year’s was.

Fingers crossed.

But now we get February, which is a lovely short month, even in leap years. Although, this year, I have my next essay due on the 29th, so I could probably do with it being a bit longer. But at least the days will begin to feel longer. It’s already uplifting to still see daylight at 5pm.

In other joys this week, I finally got around to reading Skandar and the Unicorn Thief by A.F. Steadman. It won Waterstones’ Children’s Book of the Year in 2022, and I can see why. I heard about it at the time, so I knew about the violent and bloodthirsty tendencies of the unicorns, but I had other things to read or something. I picked it up in the pile I rewarded myself with after my first essay.

There’s elemental magic, and training, and the friendless, bullied underdog finding friends and learning to stand up against bullies, and being the only one who can stop whatever evil is threatening the peace and well-being of the world. In this case, the Island, where the unicorns live, and the Mainland, which is Britain. Skander comes from Margate. I can’t remember if unicorn riders come from anywhere else in the world. Fun and laughter and danger and excitement. And unicorns snacking on rabbits or birds.

And I really like the thought of the boarding-houses for the school being a load of tree-houses.

I shall probably reward myself with the second in the series, Skandar and the Phantom Rider, after the next essay.