Rainy Days and Mondays...

I was perfectly happy today unil I found out that, mathematically, I'm supposed to be depressed. That's because today is Blue Monday: The Unhappiest Day of the Year:

Today, say experts, is the unhappiest day in the entire year.

Unpaid Christmas bills, nasty weather, and failed New Year's resolutions combine to make January 22 the gloomiest in the calendar. ...

... Dr. Cliff Arnall, a Cardiff University psychologist, devised the formula that shows today is the most depressing.

His equation takes into account six factors: weather, debt, time since Christmas, time since failing our new year's resolutions, low motivational levels and the feeling of a need to take action.

Taken together they pinpoint today as 'Blue Monday'.

Dr. Arnall said that by understanding the main factors for depression we can prevent becoming unhappy next year.

Dang. I was never any good at math. Now what?

All is not doom and gloom, however, as a survey of 85 per cent of people in Britain expect to be happier in the future than they are now, a psychological study for Standard Life Bank found.

Scots were the most optimistic, followed by people in the South West, while people from London and the West Midlands had the least positive outlook on life, researchers discovered.

Taking up a new hobby is the most favoured tactic by Britons to become happier in 2007, amid a general trend for people wanting to make work less of a focus in 2007.

I feel better now. I knew my Scottish ancestry was good for something!

And speaking of taking up new hobbies... Haggis, anyone?