January Blues.

What a depressing month January is; five weeks of cold, wet weather in the aftermath of the Christmas festivities. The only advantage to the long, dark nights is that the grey, overcast days are short. Of the twelve months of the year it has the least to say for itself. If it was one of the twelve disciples it would be Judas, if it was one of the twelve days of Christmas it would be the 'lords a leaping'. Let's face it, who needs ten members of the aristocracy dancing about in their living room.

The first of January is such a dismal way start to the new year. You make your New Year's resolutions in the positive, upbeat atmosphere of Christmas adamant the coming year is going to be the best ever. Then, you are plunged into the dark and cold of bleak mid-winter when all you want to do is lock yourself indoors and comfort yourself with indulgence. It's no wonder that those that still bother with New Year's resolutions fall at the first hurdle.

If New Year's Day was in March it would be much better. Most of the sombre, gloomy days would be behind you and spring would be on the horizon. Surely your resolutions would stand a much better chance if you could see spring just round the corner with the promise of summer in the air. You would be leading with your best foot forward rather than taking a step backwards.

The knock on effect is that it would put January and February at the end of the year so my revised new year would look like this. The first of March is New Year's Day leading into spring in April where BST begins and we get the longer days, then May and June where spring has sprung and the beginning of summer and warmer temperatures. Then the Holiday season kicks in which you only have to wait five months for instead of seven. In October and November you can enjoy the crisp, autumnal days when it's still bright. December will be taken up with Christmas preparations. Now January is at the end of the year you can use up all the holiday entitlement you forgot to take which you currently have to squeeze in before Christmas. With a bit of careful planning you could book off virtually the whole of January and stay at home indulging yourself as a reward for another successful year. After your tranquil January you would coast sleepy-eyed through February which has the benefit of being the shortest month before starting the whole thing again.

Our antipodean cousins down-under already have their New Year in the summer. Perhaps that's why they seem so bloody cheerful all the time.