FEBRUARY is a strange month.

Author Dinesh Kumar Biran once said: “If February is the month of love then no wonder it is so short.”

Certainly it often seems bleak to some.

Our trees stand bare and the earth hard and cold while nights draw in early.

Of course this month is also associated with love and many will have celebrated Valentine’s Day in England just as the people of Wales enjoyed St Dwynwen’s Day last month.

Many will have had no option but to spend it apart from their loves ones – another bitter pill to swallow for so many who have now gone 11 months living their lives in rolling lockdown.

Without a shadow of doubt the current lockdown has been the hardest to endure.

The previous two were held in warmer times and that certainly ensured many had some reason to find cheer despite the panic of the first lockdown.

However this lockdown has been longer and held during the colder months which has perhaps translated into the moods of many people.

We must endure and last the course and with more people getting vaccinated every day I think we can all take solace in knowing this lockdown has not been carried out in vain.

So while the shortest month of the year appears the longest in 2021 we can look forward to some of our lost freedoms being restored in the months ahead.