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January 2005
Dear Visitor,
The start of a new year, and I thought it might be
fun for me - and hopefully not too boring for you - to have a look at each month as it comes along and see what it's all about. For me, January is about trying to get Lloyd and Hill number fourteen licked into some sort of shape after which I intend to apply myself to other projects which have been very firmly on the fabled backburner during 2004. I also (as intimated in last month's newsletter) hope to lick myself into shape as well, but that's
another long and boring story which I will pass over
for the moment!
Last month's competition winners have been notified, and the prizes will be on the way to them as soon as possible, but for 2005 there's a change to the monthly prizes - I can't offer the runners-up two signed paperbacks any more (unless they want two the same!), so I've changed the prize distribution. Now, you'll have twice the chance of winning the top prize - two
entries will each receive a signed hardback/audio
book/video of A Shred of Evidence (whichever they
prefer), and three runners-up will each receive one
signed paperback. Fair?
And, in response to many requests, you can now find a list of the Lloyd and Hill novels in chronological order on the Books page.
I also came across some memos from a year ago, when I had pleurisy, and it seems
to me that people wrote to me then who probably didn't get a reply, because I
changed computers shortly after that, and some stuff was lost, I think. I will
try to find the details and reply, but the chances are that even if I do, the
correspondents will have changed e-mail providers, so if you have written to
me and received no reply, please write again.
So - January. It's named for Janus, the Roman god of doorways, who had two faces and looked both ways at once. The Dutch used to call it Lauwmaand, which means 'frosty month' - I have to confess I don't know what they call it now, and Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable hasn't seen fit to enlighten me. In the French Revolutionary calendar it was called Nivose, 'snow month', but Nivose ran from what would be 22 December to 20 January in the Gregorian calendar, so I don't
know if it really counts.
Its astrological signs are Capricorn and Aquarius, but the sun actually passes
through Sagittarius and Capricorn, according to Wikipedia. I'm quoting here, but I'm not happy with that description. Does the sun pass through them, or do they pass by the sun? I thought the sun stayed where it was. It also says that its flower is the snowdrop, and its birthstone the garnet - I've
no argument with that.
I suppose the first notable day after New Year's Day itself is Twelfth Night, which I always thought was 6th January, but which Brewer's tells me is 5th January, being the eve of the Twelfth Day of Christmas. Mmm. I'm not so sure about that, either. If that is the case, why isn't
it called Twelfth Eve? Anyway, it really goes back way before Christianity, and
belongs to the Saturnalia of Roman times. Any excuse for a knees-up, these Romans.
Twelfth Night revels have died out a bit, but the number of bank holidays over
this Christmas/New Year period could very nearly have brought them back. And
on the twelfth day of Christmas, not only were you staggering under the pile
of drummers, lords, swans, geese, milkmaids etc. sent to you by your true love,
but you had to arrange for the Twelfth Night cake to be baked and eaten, and
for the child who found the bean in it to be appointed the Rey de Habas, or Bean
King. And then you had to take all the decorations down, because it's unlucky
to leave them up after the twelfth day.
The twentieth of January traditionally sees the inauguration of the President
of the United States, and will, of course, this year. I will pass swiftly over
that, if you don't mind. It's also my sister Una's birthday.
The twenty-fifth is notable for being the anniversary of Robert Burns's birth in 1759. As he put it himself, 'Oor monarch's hinmost year but one was five and twenty days begun/'Twas then a blast o' Janwar win' blew hansel in on Robbie.' All over the world, haggises are piped in and addressed, then eaten with neeps and tatties, and washed down with whisky. (No 'e', please - we're Scottish.) This year, however, January 25 is notable for a much more important literary event - the
US publication of Unlucky For Some by that other famous Scottish writer, me.
I was going to end with quotes about January, but apart from Nicholas I's remark about Russia's two generals in whom she could confide - Generals January and February, and Robert Burns's self-portrait, I can't seem to find any references to January by anyone I've heard of. The flaw might well be in me, but perhaps January just doesn't inspire. I tried film titles, but again, nothing I'd heard of. Music isn't much better - in the mid-seventies, Pilot took 'January' to number one in the UK charts, and in 1980 Barbara Dixon recorded a song called 'January, February',
but if there are others, they escape me.
Well, there you are. A romp through January, and what little I know or could find out about it. It remains to be seen if other months have a bit more going for them!
I intend updating the site during the first week of each month, so let's hope
that I really can keep at least that one resolution.
See you in February,
Love,
Jill
PS The photograph is of the tree in my garden, which I thought was as good a way as any of marking the seasons. This is it on the 4th of January, on a gloomy day.
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