Today I got in the 8.02 train just in time, running with my PC bag in one hand and La Repubblica in the other. Running for the train is really something I am starting to avoid, given my mature age and the high frequency of trains to Padova (a 35' ride: see map on the right), but this time I was feeling energic. Anyway, in the train I started browsing the news, and my eye was caught by a 4-column piece about some researchers in Britain claiming that January 24th is the gloomiest day this year.
Their argument runs as follows: Mondays are the worst days of the week; January is (for northern countries) the month with the lousiest weather and the shortest daylight; around the 24th credit card companies send in their bills - and this month, hefty ones containing Christmas vacation shopping!
I found that pretty amusing. I was not feeling depressed in any way, since the sun was shining and my bills were average. Then, at work I managed to have a very unproductive day, trying unsuccessfully to patch a root macro (ended up having to re-process the 21M events of my dataset for a smallish adjustment). At three in the afternoon I started to feel very sick, tired of the few hours of sleep I had (thanks Ilaria), with a sense of oppression to my lungs and a general pain to the bones, and decided I'm incubating a flu. At 6PM I plodded homeward wearily, and now I'm going to get two tylenol cold and run to bed...
The darn British researchers and their 1/24 curse!
Darn those researchers indeed! One of my good friends has her birthday on the 24th...
Posted by: Aaron | January 24, 2005 at 06:28 PM