If, like me, you are feeling more than a little bit fed up with the doom and gloom of dark mornings and evenings, and the endless miserable grey and damp days, perhaps you can take heart from the thought that we are not alone and nor is it anything new. 
Still, things could be a lot worse - the photograph was taken in my garden in January this year - at least we haven't yet got snow and poor old Aphrodite looks a little bit chilly there! 
 
Here is a cheerless little poem entitled “No” and written in 1844 by Thomas Hood (1799-1845):


No sun – no moon!

No morn – no noon -

No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,

No comfortable feel in any member -

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,

No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds -

November!