1. It’s Dark.

All. The. Time.

Or at least that’s how it feels sometimes. Through January and February it feels like days can pass without you seeing the sun – especially if you happen to be indoors at sunrise and sunset, which seems to be the only time the sun shows its face half the time.

It’s really had to get up and go like you really mean it when it still feels like the middle of the night, especially when combined with the fact that…

2. It’s Cold.

Yes, yes, I know. Winter is supposed to be cold. And, honestly, I’d be just fine with the cold if it wasn’t so often combined with the dark and the wet. All of that together just makes me want to hibernate most of the time. There are a million and one things I should be doing but the only one that appeals is curling up in a corner and going to sleep.

3. It Makes Me Hungry.

Is this one just me, or is it a thing? In Summer I will quite happily go a day without snacking between meals, I will eat light dinners and be satisfied etc etc. Winter comes and BAM! I graze all day, mostly on biscuits and chocolate but then happily just on whatever else is available. In between grazing I eat my usual three meals a day. Which are not light because winter is all about the comfort food.

Basically all I do is eat for three months. I’m vaguely trying to lose weight but I will be honest and say I’m not expecting to succeed until probably March time because I have zero willpower against biscuits in winter.

(Looking at these last two points, I am coming to the conclusion that in winter I turn into a hamster…)

4. It Has No Colour.

Everything is dead. You don’t notice this at the beginning of winter because it is Christmas and everywhere is decorated with tinsel and sparkly lights and red and green ‘stuff’, hiding the fact that the world has turned grey and murky brown underneath. Then suddenly it is the end of the first week of January, all the lights have gone and the tinsel is put away and it looks like someone sucked all the colour out of the world overnight. It’s depressing, especially when it’s pouring with rain, blowing a gale, and black as night at three in the afternoon.

But, possibly the most annoying thing about winter is…

5. The Butter Is Too Hard To Spread.

I keep my butter in a butter dish out of the fridge for the sole purpose of being able to use it on bread when I want it. In summer it is practically a puddle half the time but that is preferable to the brick it is in winter. Apparently impervious to the central heating, winter butter is solid and chews bread up if you try and spread it.

Grrrr!

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