IT'S MARCH!
by
Phoenix Wolf-Ray

Word: havoc
Question: What is grey and drab and all round yucky?

My least favourite month of the year has got to be March. There's something about that time, despite the new growth springing forth, the promise of springtime in the calendar if not in the air.

March plays havoc with my emotions. Every year, no matter where I live, March feels just the same. Where I grew up in the North, there was more snow in March than here in the sunny southland, but as soon as the calendar turns from February to March, the mercury inevitably drops precipitously, the sky greys over and the world feels heavier.

Today is Easter Sunday, and the calendar claims that spring has come at last, yet this cold, grey snow-spitting day denies that and replaces it with its own March agenda. February was lovely. We had sun, the crocuses bloomed, the buds were bursting forth on the branches. And I suppose those things are still happening; I've seen daffodils recently. But the air feels clammy and cold, the sky is grey and the wind blows unforgivingly. The world holds tight to winter in March as though reluctant to surrender the grip of winter to spring's balmy breezes.

This is the month when I have less energy and ambition than any other time of year, which explains why this piece is so short. What else is there to say about March? Except that it is nearly over, and thank goodness for that.