February

I like all those weather sayings, and the folklore that goes alongside them. Yesterday was Candlemas Day, one my favourite festivals, when Jesus was brought to the Temple as a baby and proclaimed the Light of the World by two people who were old enough and wise enough to know what they were talking about. It's in Luke Chapter 2.) In the Middle Ages, it was the day when the churches received their whole year's supply of candles.

It was also a day to keep an eye on the weather, because

'If Candlemas Day be fair and clear
You'll have two winters in one year'.

In other words, if Candlemas was a fine day, there would be more winter to come. In fact, the same went for most of February because

'All the months of the year curse a fair Februar'.

Candlemas Day here was mixed - the sun shone, but it was a cold winter sun. Tony and I were up on the top of the moors and it was blowing a hooly up there. I was there again today, helping to lead worship in a church that looks like a medieval fortress. I suspect that it sucks in cold air and never lets it out again. By the time we were finished it took ninety minutes and two coffees before I could take my coat off. February's been rough up to now. Much says I'm a wuss, but it's all right for him, he's made of stone. He has a grin on his face today, possibly because we have snowdrops coming out as well as a little iris, a muscari, and half a crocus.

So if February is bright and sunny, look out. If it's four weeks of foul weather, cheer up, it means we might have a decent summer this year. And I just found out that February used to be called Feverill, which has such a nice sound that I might use it in a story one day, as the name for a place or a person.

Finally, I haven't told you about The Archers for a while. Lilian is behaving like a lovesick teenager. They should take her pension book away. Vicky has had her baby and called her Bethany. (Aah.) Pip's playing up, afer being such a nice girl for so long. But Pip was born an Archer woman, so she has to go through a few funny phases. They all do it. You have to earn your place in the plot lines if you're an Archer woman - look at her aunts Shula and Elizabeth, they were both widowed young, and Jenny's got quite a past. And as for Lilian - Pip, get thee to a nunnery. Fast.