The Worst Day of the Year

 February 2009 at Goldstone Wharf

There have been recent reports in newspapers and  broadcasts, about "Blue Monday", supposedly the most miserable day of the year, being the third Monday in January. This item seems to be resurrected every year and is something to do with the length of time since the last pay cheque, the arrival of Christmas credit card bills and the lack of much to look forward to with the festive season behind us. But I beg to differ.
To my mind, February is worse. By late January you can see a noticeable increase in the length of the day and start looking forward to Spring; but by February you begin to realise that this is a very slow process and that it will continue to get dark early for quite a while. The snows of January (and, this year, December) are disruptive, but I like to think I'm still young enough at heart to find them exciting: in February it rains.
There has to be Monday: the week has to start somewhere; by Wednesday lunchtime its half-over. By Thursday you are nearly there and if you are weekly-paid it's often pay day, whilst Friday is, of course, the start of the weekend. But what of Tuesday? It seems to have nothing going for it at all. By Tuesday you've forgotten the previous weekend but its too early to start looking forward to the next. The pubs are dead, the shops deserted and nobody goes out - a thoroughly depressing day.
So forget "Blue Monday" as far as I'm concerned the worst day of the year is a wet Tuesday in February - unless you're boating of course!