January 2024: 31 days that opened the year on a Monday
January 2024 was a tidy opening: 31 days, a Monday start and 23 business days, the calendar equivalent of a fresh notebook. Five Mondays, five Tuesdays and five Wednesdays packed the front of the week. The month closed on Wednesday 31 January. Up above, a full Wolf Moon lit Thursday 25 January. Down below, Britain was watching a Post Office drama, Japan was landing on the moon and the year, politely, had already begun.
The front-loaded month
Five Mondays, from Monday 1 January through Monday 29 January, set the month's rhythm. Tuesdays and Wednesdays also ran to five, so the working spine was unusually thick. Every week but the last formed a full Monday-to-Sunday block, which made the numbering painless.
There were 23 business days against eight weekend days, across ISO weeks 1 to 5. Wednesday 31 January closed the run. No month in the half-year bettered that count, though May 2024 later matched it.
A Monday opening suits a January. The year and everyone's resolutions begin on the same page, whatever the resolutions turn out to be. Print the grid on A4 and the counts sit there plainly, ready for the kitchen wall and the rota.
A Post Office drama, then the moon
Britain began the year watching Mr Bates vs The Post Office. Its first episode drew 9.2 million viewers on Monday 1 January. The Horizon scandal went straight back to the top of the news.
The moon supplied the month's other big story. Peregrine, the first American commercial lunar lander, launched on Monday 8 January. A ruptured propellant tank doomed it within hours.
Japan's SLIM, the Moon Sniper, had better luck. A pinpoint touchdown on Saturday 20 January made Japan the fifth country to soft-land on the moon. In between, on Wednesday 10 January, American regulators approved the first spot bitcoin funds after a decade of rejections.
Samsung, meanwhile, put live two-way call translation at the centre of its new phones on Wednesday 17 January. In Melbourne on Sunday 28 January, Jannik Sinner came from two sets down to win his first Grand Slam title.
Four phases, four Thursdays
The moon kept a strict diary. Last quarter fell on Thursday 4 January; new moon came on Thursday 11 January. First quarter arrived on Thursday 18 January; the full Wolf Moon followed on Thursday 25 January. Four phases, four Thursdays, no drift.
Copenhagen added a royal line to the notes. On Sunday 14 January, Queen Margrethe II abdicated after 52 years. It was the first Danish abdication in nearly 900 years, and her son was proclaimed King Frederik X.
Mark Thursday 4 January and Thursday 25 January on a blank grid and the column writes itself. January 2024 did not want for entries.
February 2024 turned up with 29 days and a Thursday at each end. January had already opened the year on time, and in reasonable order.