Ben Lowry: Far from being a hangover month, January brings the joy of renewal
Yesterday late afternoon, at 4.30pm, as we gathered for a news conference to discuss today’s paper, the editor, Alistair Bushe, pointed outside to the bright daylight.
It seems only days ago that the sun was setting in Belfast before 4pm. Now it does not set until almost 5pm.
In little more than three weeks, on February 22, the dusk will be as late as 5.45pm — if it is bright, it won’t seem dark until after 6pm.
Many people complain about January as being a ‘hangover’ month. It even contains a day, Blue Monday, the third Monday in the month, which is said to be the most depressing day of the year.
This is based on things such as the distance from Christmas, the failure of new year resolutions and the debt from the festive season.
Not for me is it depressing.
Late January is the glorious beginning of the best part of the year: the sense of renewal and hope, amid inklings of spring, but most of all the re-emergence of daylight.
The days will gradually get longer and longer, for five months.
And every so often, we will get a day of mostly sunshine, beginning again to arc high in the sky, from early morning to early evening.
• Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter deputy editor