February in Canada. You gotta love it. We wake up in the dark, go to bed in the dark, freeze our buns off, shovel snow, sit in traffic, scrape ice from our windshield and new this year, watch the Antiques Road Show because there’s no hockey. The list goes on and on.

It’s not surprising that so many people are depressed during this time of the year.

If we were all independently wealthy, most of us would prefer spending the month sitting poolside somewhere in the Caribbean. I, for one, am not.

The only pool I’ll be diving into is of the football variety.

I’m not a big gambler – nor according to my friends a good gambler – and I’m not promoting the vice, but I find participating in the odd pool makes football a hell of a lot more interesting.

Armchair quarterbacks across the country will be glued to their televisions Feb. 6.

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, that is the date of this year’s Superbowl.

I’ll be part of that crowd and, in fact, I’m planning on having the boys over for the festivities. Chili, beer, chips, it doesn’t get much better.

Especially when Monday has been booked off as a holiday.

Perhaps February wouldn’t be so bad if I was an outdoorsman. I don’t ski, haven’t played organized hockey since I was a kid and don’t own a snowmobile.

I have been known to participate in the rugged sport of curling, but even that’s going back a few years.

Just about the only thing I do is walk and, to be honest, I have a very hard time motivating myself when it’s – 10 C and pitch black.

February doesn’t have a long weekend, Christmas party, May 2-4, Canada Day or Walleye opener. Perhaps the only saving grace is that it’s the shortest month of the year.

Someone was thinking ahead when the modern day calendar was being planned.

Enough of the negative, let’s talk about the positive!

My barbecue still works, there’s a fireplace in my basement, my 38-year-old furnace is still working, my local movie store has just increased its selection of DVDs and I don’t have to buy golf balls on a weekly basis.

I guess it’s all in the way you look at it. Since there’s nothing we can do to stop it, the month can at least be tolerated if we work with what we’re dealt.

– Rob Wilkins is the publisher of Truck News and he can be reached at 416-510-5123.