Blue Monday

Today is unofficially known as "Blue Monday" in the U.K. The tag is applied to the Monday in January which some scientists somewhere calculated to be the most depressing day in the English calendar year. The factors that go into this calculation are the weather, the supposed realization of the extent of Christmas debt and the setting in of reality that New Years Resolutions won't be achieved. It doesn't help that tax day is right around the corner on January 31 and that the bad news about the economy is unrelentin. I don't know if there's anything to it, but the weather part of it is right on track. It is pouring rain outside like we haven't seen since we arrived. I usually get up around 6, awakened by light pouring in through the skylight. Today, it looks like the middle of the night, and it's 7:30 a.m. as I write this. Fortunately, we discovered yesterday the control for the gas fireplace in the reception room, so we'll get a cheery fire going in the grate before everybody gets up, finish up our homework and head off for an indoor day at one of the great museums. The rest of London may be blue, but we'll going to try to be pastel.