It's 29th February- a leap year.

It's 29th February- a leap year.

You may have taken a look at your calendar and wondered whether you were imagining things. You must have known that we were approaching the end of February but not sure what day it was. Then you might have blinked once and overlooked the fact that it was indeed the last day of the month. But hold on it isn't quite March yet so it's best to relax for another day and contemplate the month that ushers us quietly into the spring equinox. It'll be the season of cuckoos singing their first melodies and a new set of green clothes draping themselves around the branches of blossoming trees.

 A stunning array of cherry blossom will make its presence felt and everybody will finally convince themselves that the chilly blasts of winter are now history. But there's still the little matter of the last day of February to attend before we march into March and stride purposefully towards April.

 The daffodils have yet to grace us with their bright yellow complexion and the spring lawnmowers are yet to be dragged out of the garden shed. So where are we? It's the 29th February and that can only mean one thing. It's a leap year and that can only mean one thing. An extra day has been added onto the end of the month and for the superstitious this could mean anything. In the general scheme of things it just means that the shortest month of the year has been extended by another day. This could be an encouraging omen for some while others will be  dreading today if only because they might have missed a birthday or several.

So what happens to those who celebrate their birthday on the 29th February? Do they complain to some high authority in no uncertain terms since leap years occur only once in every four years? Or do they wait another four years to be accepted into the fold of those who age another year? Maybe they mark their special day on the day before or after just for the sheer fun of it. Here is the dilemma. How do those people born on this day of this month actually fill the day because a birthday should indicate the day of your birth? This sounds like a case of being caught up in the middle of nowhere.

There are important decisions to be made since who can look forward to a birthday that doesn't really exist numerically? It is dreadfully confusing and perhaps you should be left to your own devices and just throw the party of a lifetime among family and friends. Whose idea was it to invent the Gregorian calendar when that calendar so spitefully deprives you of a birthday? Or maybe not. Sometimes you've just got to go with your gut instinct and hope nobody minds.

Outside, the last of the gender based storms are whistling their last tune hopefully and the first day of the March is literally hours away. Bravo. But then we realise that we've got to take a leap of faith right over the leap year. There has to be an acceptance that Easter may be earlier or later depending on your point of view and the Jewish festival of Pesach falls on a bizarrely early time of the month.

For those whose birthday coincides with Christmas Day or who simply forget what day or date it may be over the festive period, some of us will become ever so slightly disoriented. Time can often be immaterial and besides we can always glance back to our calendar in the hope that the week hasn't flown away.

The reality is of course that there are still those of us who genuinely forget what day it is during the Bank Holidays even though we should know. The weekend suddenly turns into the longest weekend and briefly the day leaves us in a state of temporary flux and absent mindedness. We awake on the Monday of the Bank Holiday ready to throw on our working clothes only to find that this is the one day when we should be relaxing, taking it easy and just indulging in a spot of decorating or gardening.

Even so today, lest we forget, is the 29th February and there may be some who may disregard the event without a single thought. So here we are on the final day of the month of this leap year and according to the calendar your birthday will have to be postponed for a more convenient day of the year. You may be questioning this unfortunate lapse in this astrological time frame but so what? It's only the one day of the month. You could pretend that it's March and besides it's stopped raining and there's a fleeting glimpse of spring sunshine. Yippee!