When it’s a grey November in your soul

This was the name of a discotheque/bar in the late ’60s somewhere in Shaw Boulevard that my school friends and I used to frequent. There we’d meet up with other friends for tropical drinks like mai tai, piñacolada and if we dared to be different, "Scotch 7-Up."

The place was blanketed in darkness but that was precisely why it was popular! It provided just the right kind of obscurity and dreariness that encouraged the drowning of one’s sorrow accompanied by sad, piano-tinkling music if not the soulful strum of the lone guitar.

Did your love go astray? Was your heart broken into little pieces? You’ve come to the right place.

With friends to share the "end of the world" and music to soothe a shattered spirit, we found soon enough that hearts do get mended, and fast. Memories were enriched and the passage of time was cherished by damaged but wisened hearts.

November is cold, bare and dreary in the northern part of the globe, but not in Manila. Longer nights and nifty air promised a relief from the long, hot and humid climate. Being the third month with the "ber" suffix, it means Christmas is not a "distant" cousin anymore. It is time, in fact, to shed all puritanical, self-imposed deprivations to make way for the exact opposite: December’s holiday indulgence.

But why pick on November as the month to express the maudlin, depressing "rainy days and Monday" blues? Why not July when the scorching sun can toast and burn one’s flesh – enough to make one cry? Why not December when the careless wind can "blast freeze" any warm and kind thought?

November takes its name from novem, the Latin word for nine. In the early Roman calendar, November was the ninth month. July was named for Julius Caesar, August for Augustus Caesar so the Roman Senate offered to name the 11th month for Tiberius Caesar. He refused modestly, saying, "What will you do if you have 13 emperors?" Originally, there were 30 days in November, then 29, then and 31 before it was fixed at 30 days from the time of Augustus Caesar.

When I get lost on how many days each month has, I recite a pre-school rhyme that for some reason has remained etched in my memory: "...30 days in September, April, June and November..."

When I lived in Washington DC, I remember November as the "in-between" month – between autumn and winter. The trees were bare and the dead leaves on the ground have lost the brilliant color they had in October. Soft snow seldom covered the bareness of the fields but the grays and browns of the landscape were sometimes relieved by delightful days of sunshine.

The British referred to November as the "wind month" and sometimes "blood month" because during this period, it’s open season to stock up on winter meat.

Near the end of November, the Americans celebrate Thanksgiving to commemorate the early pilgrims who came from New England expressing gratitude for their first harvests in the new land.

Surfing the Internet, I found more trivia on November: It’s Election time in the United States that falls on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Veterans Day is also celebrated on November 11.

There was even one November calendar that highlighted such celebrations like National Adoption Month for childless couples, National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day for chocoholics, Button Day for ah, button-makers and/or collectors? And Pins and Needles Day for crafters, tailors and dressmakers.

Topaz is the November birthstone and the special flower of the month is the chrysanthemum. Zodiac sign is Scorpio.

For a dose of weepy "mushy-ness," my personal favorite would be a song composed by the Broadway veteran, Anthony Newley, that was the background music for a film that starred another stage actress, Sandy Dennis (with Anthony Newley) entitled Sweet November.

The film, charming and romantic, was about Sara, a terminally-ill woman who made it her personal quest to "cure" the quirks and idiosyncrasies of men who crossed her life – one month at a time. She kept herself from falling in love until she met her November "subject," Charlie, a box maker with a snooty, upper lip attitude who was a stickler for time and a dud for adventure.

Part of Sara’s therapy for Charlie was to encourage him to write poems that rhymed. He failed miserably until he opened his heart to love. The result is the lovely theme song that Anthony Newley sang at the end of the film.

I kept a video copy of this movie and never grew tired of watching it. When a remake was made that featured Keanu Reeves and Charlize Thieron, I didn’t watch it. Like other Hollywood remakes (An Affair to Remember, Sabrina), I was sure it would have paled in comparison to the original; I was correct.

"Sweet November they say you’re wintry and grey

and yet this love that you bring is sweeter than spring and warmer than May

I can’t remember November sunshine more beautiful than today

Fleeting, it’s true, but what can I do to make sweet November stay?

Come December when our November is through

I’ll face the winter and smile

For I know that I’ll be thinking of you

When I remember November sunshine

I won’t mind December’s rain

For me it will be like sweet November again."

Sweet November? I like that. Grey skies have gone leaving no trace of rain or sorrow especially in the soul.

Some November quotations

• November woods are bare and still; November days are clear and bright; each noon burns up the morning’s chill, the morning’s snow is gone by night.

• The wild November comes at last, beneath a veil of rain: The night wind blows its folds aside; Her face is full of pain.

• November’s sky is chill and drear, November’s leaf is red and sear.

• When chill November’s surly blast, made fields and forests bare.

• Not yesterday I learned to know the love of bare November days

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!