UK natives (or people just living there) help please!

The essence of each month?

January - cold, bleak
February - even colder and bleaker
March - looking forward to the Easter holidays
April - Cat month - I was given my first cat in April, my second, third and fourth cats were born in April.
May - two bank holidays, roses in bloom
June - Sister month - both sisters were born in June. More roses.
July - nothing - a non-essence month
August - holidays,
September - A literary month - start to re-read The Once and Future King and/or Lord of the Rings
October - changing colours - instead of greens a mixture of chrome, red, orange, yellow, copper. Favourite month.
November - smell of bonfires and burning leaves
December - Crimbo lights, snow, cold, festive.

Anne Lyle said:

Good point. I found it very weird, going to California in July - the days were so much shorter than back home!

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Really? I didn't know that at all, you think of California and long hot sunny days.

It's true that complaining about the weather is a British institution. But an important point to note is that we do have four distinct seasons in the UK. OK, so it might be cold and wet for most of the year, but still we have seasons. I lived in Canada for eight years of my life and in Ontario there's only two seasons - winter, when it gets to -30c and summer, when it gets to 30c or above.

Here are my keywords, though. From the point of view of a London commuter, with no kids, who is not fond of Xmas.

January/February. Winter. Cold, wet. Dark. My main issue is the darkness. I never see my house in daylight for these months - it's dark when I leave for work and it's dark by the time I get home.

March/April/May. Spring. Trees bud; daffodils come out, and I suffer badly with hay fever.

June/July. Summer. Sometimes there are warm days. Oftn there are wet days. I usually take my main holiday in June so I'm not around much for that month.

August. Tourists everywhere. They lug their suitcases around the underground during rush hour and block my way. My train home is full of overtired families travelling home after a day out, and making daft coments to each other wondering why the train is so busy...?

September. This can be a really nice month. If we have a crap August, we sometimes have a warm September.

October. My birthday month, so that's a significant event for me. But it's getting darker in the evenings and colder, and I hate to see everything dying.

November/December. Winter rolls in, it's cold and dark again, and silly season starts. The underground is often closed because some idiot leaves their Xmas shopping on the train and everyone thinks it might be a bomb.

September, the end of the summer holidays? Um, no. Not all over the UK.

There's no such country as the UK. It's a collection of four. (Okay, you could add in the isles and the Commonwealth, but you know what I mean.)

Terie said:

January: rain
February: rain
March: rain
April: rain
May: rain
June: rain
July: rain
August: rain
September: rain
October: rain
November: rain
December: rain

(Sorry, I guess that's what happens when one lives in Manchester! )

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HAHAHAHAHA... sorry... that made me laugh so hard!

scarletpeaches said:

September, the end of the summer holidays? Um, no. Not all over the UK.

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True, they're earlier in Scotland aren't they?


Do you still call them summer holidays when you don't get summer? I had heard you only have two seasons, winter and June. *ducks and runs, covering backside with something bulletproof*

Chantal.H said:

Really? I didn't know that at all, you think of California and long hot sunny days.

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Not in Santa Cruz. It was overcast most of the two days we were there - as with San Francisco, you get a lot of fog coming in off the Pacific.

Then we went a good ways north, to the Napa Valley, which is much more what you'd expect - hot and sunny all day. But it still got dark earlier than England

(At the time we were there, Sacramento was getting 14.5 hours of daylight, London was getting 16!)

But do they have it better when we are down to a few measley hours a day and running the risk of rickets from lack of vitamin D??

My favourite time of the year? March. That time when Spring is just starting. Not everything is growing yet, but you can feel the potential for growth. Trees just beginning to bud. Spring flowers just poking their heads out of the ground. The air sparkles.

And if you stand on the grass and let your mind empty, you can feel the growth humming up through your feet.

January - walking on a frozen beach with a dog, watching the waves crash on the pier
Febuary - Dreary
March - Dreary
April - BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
May - Going insane with exam stuff happening and students being apparently incapable of revising properly, or at all
June - Finally not having to worry about students' upcoming exams, can now start worrying about their results.
July - Looking forward to upcoming holidays
August - enjoying days off but (many years) annoyed that no full time work means no pay over school holidays so lack of cash...)
Sepetember - waiting to see if any of the agencies I have signed with will actually manage to find me work that pays well and is close enough to get to without needing to be out of the house at 4am to catch a bus)
October - Usually got some form of work, build up to halloween and bonfire night which usually involves some fun stuff at schools and the chance for me to do my infamous 'making fireworks and stink bombs' lesson which is a great way to teach elements, mixtures and compounds and oxidation...
November - SAD starts to kick in as nights get shorter...
December - cosy by the fireplace in the Lake District.

January: Back to work
February: Tidying up the garden, ready for spring
March: Spring on the way at last, Easter Holidays (depending on when it falls), middle child's birthday
April: Spring planting and sowing in the garden, Easter Holidays (depending on when it falls) Nights getting lighter, days longer. Nettle beer.
May: Spring here at last, more time in the garden than inside, Bank Holidays. Elderflower champagne.
June: Nearly summer
July: My birthday, summer here, Summer Holidays
August: Back to work, still summer though Hedgrow harvesting, jam making, mushrooming, wine making.
Septemper: Another child's birthday, kids back at school, nights drawing in again. Apple harvest, pie making, cider making.
October: Chickens start to moult, no eggs for months.
November: Bonfire night, harvesting squashes and pumpkins, soup.
December: Christmas and another child's birthday, wife's birthday, wallet crying, holidays again.