Blue or is it Black Monday?

Today, the 19^th of January 2009, is being reported as Blue Monday, other sources have labelled it as Black Monday. Whatever it is that you wish to call it, this particular day is reportedly the most depressing and unproductive day of the year, that is if all the news reports are anything to go by.

There are a number of reasons for this gloomy prediction today, the bleak January weather for one, cold wet and windy, as well as snow showers expected. This in itself would be enough for many to stop from going about their daily business.

It is estimated that up to one in every four workers will fail to go to their place of employment on this the most depressing of days.

It has been a full two weeks since the majority of the British workforce returned to work after their long Christmas and New Year break.

Another possible reason is that around this time many of the New Year resolutions that were made in such good faith less than three weeks ago may have fallen by the wayside. Those that pledged to stop doing whatever it was that they shouldn't have been doing, or overdoing, have forgotten these promises they made to themselves or to others. The diet plan has gone, and a return to old eating habits. The stop smoking or drinking brigade have fallen back into their old routines, a return to their old habits.

One other cause for this day of depression is the bleak outlook on the employment front, you are maybe stuck in a rut caused by the same old job day in day out, but because of the precarious position or timing of changing employers at present you prefer to stick with what you have, better the devil you know.

The poor state of the housing market is another depressing situation; you could well have bought your dream home only for its value to plummet and now that dream house is slowly turning into a nightmare.

Another statistic that many will find upsetting is the fact that the next holiday appears so far off into the distance, it is a full sixty eight days until the next official holiday in the United Kingdom, over two full months until the Easter break.

One more area of depressing news could be that your credit card bill, or bills, may have just arrived through your letter box. All those expensive gifts that you purchased for Christmas and thought ok we will pay for them another day; well another day has just arrived.

Whatever the reason for this unpopular day to be reported in this way, whether it is black or blue, or is it just a fabricated news story to fill in a gap in an otherwise quiet time for reporters, I mean what else is going on this week