January reflections

January has already been a mixed month here in West Dorset, with cold, cold weather and blue skies at the start of it (hooray!) and then miserable rain and wind (boo!), which kind of reflects the way many of us feel in the weeks after Christmas.

The festive season passed me by without major incident and now the forward-face of the dual-headed Janus dominates our lives as The Good Ship 2025 slips its mooring and floats off into the past.

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings (Wikipedia).

Whilst some of us are celebrating the arrival of new little people, it’s been a rough old twelve months for some, with Christmas and New Year anything but merry.

Life is hard, and even more so when you lose something or someone dear to you.

It doesn’t help when the outside world is going through tumultuous times which appear to be never-ending.

I’ve stopped listening to news bulletins. They’re full of multi-daily doses of negativity which make us all feel so angry and/or helpless. The chatter and backbiting on social media is even worse, with entrenched views constantly in a bitter battle with the voices of sanity and rational reason.

I heard on the news this morning that people tend to book their holidays in January because it gives them something to look forward to during these dark and dreary months.

I can well believe it.

The best thing so far this month has been the remains of the Wolf Moon shining over the village green in a three-way chorus with the lights of the community Christmas tree and the phone box library.

And on another positive note, we came third in the pub quiz, the morning cuppa tastes even better in the mugs my brother bought us for Christmas and I’ve lost four pounds since Christmas.

Roll on blue skies and warmth.

That’s about it.

Love, Maddie x