Always my least favourite two months, November and February.

Miserable weather and November wins the crown as letting us know there are five months to wait until it gets better again.

I love November, but I've always preferred cold weather to hot. This is where winter really starts. I guess we are opposites, JK.

I'm with Emma on this. I love the dark nights drawing in and also prefer cold weather.

I especially liked it when I lived in Finland and Hungary where the differences between seasons are more pronounced than here.

I hated it when the clocks went back last weekend, because it means that when i finish work at 5pm it is pitch black and I have to drive home for 1 hour through country roads in the dark, which I hate. Apart from that I like the Autumn colours in the countryside.
My least favourite month however is January, because it means christmas is over and there are several more months to go before it is spring again.

I always used to love autumn and the approach of early darkness as a young person. Now I absolutely loathe it and cannot wait for spring to arrive. Maybe it's an age thing.

As a complete aside, it is interesting that you lived in Finland and Hungary, David. Two apparently unconnected nations, yet their languages are related, neither of them Indo-European. The use of linguistics alone shows us that Finns and Hungarians were once the same people, living east of the Urals. About 2000 years ago, there was a large migration, some ending up in Hungary, some in modern day Finland and Estonia. Only a small number of those who stayed put remain. Sorry to have veered so wildly off topic, but I find the history and development of language fascinating.

Anthony wrote:

As a complete aside, it is interesting that you lived in Finland and Hungary, David. Two apparently unconnected nations, yet their languages are related, neither of them Indo-European.

the languages are related Anthony, tho so distantly that they bear no resemblance at all these days.

Imagine the link between English and German, which is pretty close- the link between Finnish and Hungarian is far more distant.

I'd say the only thing they have in common is that they are both non-European languages.

in case there are any linguists here, I speak fluent Hungarian but only passable Finnish lol.

david wrote:

I'd say the only thing they have in common is that they are both non-European languages.

No, they both belong specifically to the Finno-Ugric language family, but you are right that they bear little resemblance to each other now. 2000 years in isolation from each other has set them off in totally different directions. Had it not been for the emergence of global media, it is doubtful that English and American would still be mutually intelligible.

Back to topic, I agree with robbiex. January is by far the most miserable and depressing month.

and for me it means glorious spring weather and 5 months of summer to come.

But I actually love the winter.

Yes I wonder which months I'd hate if I lived Down Under... probably April and July!

Hateful November here started yesterday with someone shaking the poor trees so every fucking leaf in the country now resides on the ground where it will slowly rot.

Anthony wrote:
david wrote:

I'd say the only thing they have in common is that they are both non-European languages.

No, they both belong specifically to the Finno-Ugric language family, but you are right that they bear little resemblance to each other now. 2000 years in isolation from each other has set them off in totally different directions.

of course you're right Anthony, along with Estonian, altho that's not hard to understand if you speak Finnish.

My favourite month is January in Northern Finland- even my Finnish friends think I'm mad for going there then. My favourite destination is the small village of Utsjoki, 500km north of the Arctic Circle. It's magical in the middle of winter. I experienced the coldest temperature I've ever been in up there, it went to -41 degrees one evening. ouch!

Since we seem to have strayed into Scandinavian territory here, I'll always remember discussing Scandinavia with Danish friends and saying I thought there were five countries in the territory. They assumed I thought Iceland was part of it with Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland but I said no... Lapland.

For some reason they considered this hilarious.