Well, I was meant to be writing this from a beach in Hawaii and instead of that I’m looking out at a very dreich rainy day in a Bedfordshire garden.
Gordon and I had planned a holiday to celebrate his 60th and as the best holiday we ever had was to Hawaii, we decided to go back.
Covid rules put paid to that though.
Because Hawaii is quite hard to get to, and we had to travel to LA and then change flights, it would have been too complicated to have valid PCR tests to last all the way to our destination.
We might have been fine, but we didn’t want to risk getting stuck in the airport or having to isolate. Anyway, whether it was the right decision or not, we postponed the trip.
We are both feeling a bit flat because we were looking forward to it, but we would both much rather be at home safe and sound and not have wasted our money on a holiday that would be full of stress.
Gordon loves to go away at this time of year to get away from the January blues. Personally, I’m not so keen because coming back from a holiday and having to put your winter woollies on again isn’t my favourite. So, in a way, saving the trip until the brighter days suits me just fine.
Anyway, I was just thinking, is there anyone who actually prospers in January and loves the month?
Historically it’s the month where many people are miserable when they have to pay off the Christmas credit card bills.
After the excitement of Christmas (and the more extravagant you made it, the more of a comedown there is), there isn’t much to look forward to for a while.
January always sees a surge in relationship break-ups and people filing for divorce. This could be because of the stress of all being together during the festive period, or just because people wait until after the festivities to voice their feelings.
So many of us start our diets or do Dry January so we are bound to be grumpy!
The divorce lawyers and health farm owners must be the only people who are looking forward to a great month.
To be honest though I quite like it.
I’ve had enough of sitting around eating, the pine needles have been getting on my nerves and I want to look on the bright side of a fresh start and being at home with not a lot of work planned.
We might take a little trip to Scotland, but apart from that I’m intending to get organised.
Taking down the decorations leaves the house looking very bare but somehow that feeling of a blank, tidy canvas appeals to my organised personality.
I’m going to start on drawers and cupboards and maybe even get my paint brush out.
The Mrs Hinch (the instagram queen of organising and cleaning) in me is most definitely raring to go.
In fact, I’m feeling particularly domesticated.
A friend of mine was telling me about the tea cosy she knitted and that night I fished out some knitting needles and found some wool to practise with.
I’m now halfway through a scarf and will hopefully progress to something slightly harder after that.
Knitting is a lovely restful hobby. Tom Daley has obviously made knitting cool with his poolside creations and isn’t it about time it made a comeback?
We talk about sustainability, and nothing lasts longer than a hand-knitted Aran jumper.
My Auntie Agnes used to make gorgeous ones for the children, and they never seemed to wear out.
I think it will be a while before I progress from scarf to Aran jumper, but in this dreich weather I’m getting plenty of time to practise because I don’t really want to go out.
I still haven’t found my Christmas address book, but I’ve labelled every Christmas decoration box in great detail before putting them in the loft.
Next year I’m going to know precisely where everything is when I look for it.
If the book turns up, I’m going to tell you all where I put it and then hopefully one of us will remember!
So, if any of you have any fabulous ideas on how to cheer up January, please let me know and I will share them here.
Have a good week whether you have gone “dry” or fallen off the wagon!
Yvie x
