It has just come to my attention that today is Blue Monday. A British boffin has calculated that today is the gloomiest day of the year. From the Telegraph:
In 2005 Dr Cliff Arnall, formerly of Cardiff University, came up with a light-hearted formula for predicting the gloomiest day of the year based on factors including weather, debts, time since Christmas and motivation.
His equation suggested that the third Monday in January – this year on Jan 16 – was when unhappiness peaked as Christmas bills roll in and the post-holiday buzz wears off.
But Dr Arnall said that this year could be even more depressing than usual because of Trump and Brexit anxiety, and sadness following the recent deaths of childhood heroes such as George Michael and Carrie Fisher which reminded people of their own mortality.
Dr Arnall, 51, from Brecon, Wales, who now runs happiness and confidence sessions for organisations including the Department for Work and Pensions and the NHS, said: “Seasonal depression factors are coming together on Blue Monday – and additional concerns make 2017’s Blue Monday even more depressing than other years.
Despite the icce storm and heavy fog here in Chicago, I’m actually feeling fairly chipper.
Let me see if I understand this correctly, a white man has determined that the worst day of the year is the one on which everybody celebrates the birth of one of the greatest black men, and the black man who was slaughtered trying to free his people from the savage treatment of white people who are really, really bummed out today. Or, am I missing something again.
I realize he is British, but would it be asking too much to skip January?
I think we all might wish that we could skip January.
It’s a perfect day here in Florida. Lots of chores and honey-do’s, but it’s productive and progress. Finally starting to feel a bit settled in our new lifestyle.
BTW, England is depressing as hell in January, so I’m not surprised someone there picked one day this month.
This is the gloomiest day of the year (and the Hungarian version sounds even gloomier).
Britain also has recent traditions of Dry January (no alcohol) and Veganuary (no meat or animal products) for a month. I sense the British deal with a lot of December guilt.
Not the Englishmen that I know.
One of my favorite things about the Brits, they drink a bit more but do it with 100% less hypocrisy. Only Americans could manage to make beer drinking miserable.
One of the things my Brit friends have pointed out is how dark and depressing American bars are.
I think the short explanation is that the Puritans left England and came here. Even the Puritans were not as blue-nosed as we are. I think that can be blamed on the Jansenist Irish.
When I lived in England I lived in a rented house in a small village with some friends. We spent many evenings at the local pub and became “locals” as much as we could as foreigners. It was typically English and far removed from any typically American bar. The village pub is the one of the centers of social life and isn’t just about drinking. The urban pubs aren’t quite as friendly, but are light years ahead of what we typically have here in the US.