February

Funny month, February – sometimes unmemorably bland and grey, throwing in odd bright patches to illuminate banks of snowdrops that will already have faded by mid-month; sometimes an Arctic colony, with the first really cold snaps of the winter. When that happens, supply lines are thrown into chaos, unpicked vegetables and stored fruit and vegetables go to ruin; the supermarkets reduced-price shelves are full of rotting, frost-bitten greens and black mushy bananas.