Jane Messina is determined to do her best to make it a beautiful spring

Dear March, you seem to have appeared out of nowhere this year, but I must say it's really nice to see you again. What was up with February this year? Did we do something to upset February? Well, anyway, February is always kind of a jerk so I’m not going to get too upset about it.

As always, you and April have the potential to be good or bad.

You can never make up your mind about whether you want to be sunny and warm or rainy and cold, and that bothers a lot of us who have small closet space and are deciding whether or not to swap out their coats and boots for the skirts and sandals that were sadly squeezed under the bed last September.

So this is a plea from those of us in Oxford for you and April to please make up your mind, and preferably you can do it when you are both in a good mood.

If April needs a pep talk, just remind it that in England this year, we don’t need April showers to bring May flowers. December and January decided we needed a deluge this year (maybe they were mad at us for becoming better friends with July and August last year), so our flowers are already doing pretty well. So tell April that this year, it can just chill out, relax, and let the sun do the talking.

I know what you’re thinking March. It’s a lot to ask you to always be cheery. I’ve felt the same myself recently, in fact.

Believe me, I know how it is. Like when you’re sat there on the sofa on a Saturday morning, and you know you should draw open the curtains open and face the day, but it’s really much easier to stay under the blanket and watch Homes Under The Hammer (it really is amazing how much money people can save by tiling the kitchen themselves).

But one thing I’ve noticed is that when I force myself to do something, it’s never as bad as I anticipated and I often end up having a pretty good time.

How about this: maybe we can work together this year, and encourage one another to stay positive? You can be sunny and warm, and maybe I’ll open my curtains a bit more often.

If you need an example of what I’m looking for, last weekend here in Oxford was great. Everyone in town seemed really happy, and I bet that made you feel good to know you made some people’s days a little better. If you keep it up with days like that, I might even think of inviting you to a barbecue, even though my friends still have mixed feelings about you.

Anyway March, for now I’ve got to head off and run some errands while it’s still light out. No matter what you do, you’ll never be July, and that’s just something we both have to accept.

Sincerely, Janey