I ALWAYS thought January was a pretty boring month. My birthday creeps into it – just – but apart from that I see it as being on the dull, drudgerous and “let’s get it over with” side.

But maybe it isn’t what it seems.

At the beginning of the month, I learned that January 5 is the most adulterous day of the year, with men and women across the country embarking on affairs.

I’d have thought spring, with lambs frolicking in the fields and flowers starting to bloom, would have tempted more people to jump between the sheets, not cold, grey, miserable January. But a survey concluded otherwise.

Then came the news that January sales shopping is being used as the perfect cover-up for couples having affairs, who are using the excuse to slip off for a secret liaison.

Sixty five per cent of women and 58 per cent of men are using the excuse, a further survey revealed.

Now for me that would be the biggest giveaway ever. If my husband said he was going sales shopping, I would immediately know something was up. The only shop he enters willingly and happily is our local, family-owned DIY store, and I can’t see any woman going doe-eyed as he ponders 101 types of grout.

He detests shopping, and hates sales with a severity I reserve for fox hunting and badger baiting.

I wouldn’t assume an affair, I’d be more concerned that he had fallen, hit his head, and woken up with a completely different personality.

To be honest you don’t see many men trawling through bargain bins in the sales. I’ve done a bit of sale shopping and the few men I’ve seen make the residents of death row look happy.

I remember reading about the top excuses for men sneaking off to meet lovers and they didn’t include shopping. Going to the gym and golf were the main ones given to wives and girlfriends, with fishing being the least used.

So, if your husband says he is going fishing, chances are he really is.

But maybe not in January. The month is such a hotbed of illicit goings on, that anyone who claims to be going fishing is probably heading off to Whitby for a love tryst.

All this is almost certainly exaggerated.

The research into mating habits was carried out by a dating site for married people.

For them, no wonder January is passion-filled. Having spent time over Christmas with partners with whom I would imagine they’re not entirely enamoured, they are obviously itching to get back into their lovers’ arms.

For the rest of us, January is just that – January.

But if your partner does suddenly express a desire to pop to the sales, it may be wise to go along too.