Keeping the Lights Burning

I'm sure that I had something I planned to post here today, but a day struggling through freezing cold fog in order to carry out utterly meaningless work-related activities has left my brain too numb to think clearly.  It doesn't help that I've pulled something in my back so, as well as being freezing cold, I'm also in pain.  At least January finally judders to a halt tomorrow.  This year, despite coming back to work later than usual, January seems to have dragged on interminably.  Which is strange, because, apart from the rain and gales, the weather this January hasn't been as bad as usual.  I mean, generally speaking we spend January struggling through snow drifts.  But this year, up until this week, at least, the temperatures have remained reasonably mild.  So, all things considered, January 2014 should have been less depressing than usual and just breezed past.  But it hasn't felt that way.

One measure of how depressing this January has ben are the number of Christmas decorations, most specifically external lights and trees, which are still up and illuminated in defiance of the 'rule' that it's bad luck to keep them up beyond twelfth night.  Of course, the twelfth night thing is bollocks any way, something cooked up by the Victorians who, having restored Christmas as a seasonal celebration, realised they needed some way to force people back to work when it ended.  What better way than to take down those cheery decorations and emphasise how dreary midwinter really is?  Apparently, in some parts of Scandinavia they keep some of their decorations up until February in an attempt to inject some cheer into this otherwise bleak time of year.  I must admit, having been cheered by the sight of the odd still lit up Christmas tree over the past few weeks, I think they have a point.  So, next year, let's all ignore the twelfth night business and keep the lights burning a little longer - maybe then January won't drag so much.