What? It can't be Friday already!

I live in the clouds. No, not like that. Despite what my husband says. Or maybe a bit. No, but what I mean is that I don't have to look UP to see clouds, because at this altitude we often have them at ground level. You can call it fog if you like, but if you drive downhill you drive out of it. Ergo, it's cloud.

It's also not fully daylight yet, it being the time of year when the Northern hemisphere leans away from the Sun, and really, when I look out of the window there isn't much to see.

There is an idea in popular culture that blue skies and sunshine are more cheerful (note: song lyrics etc) and it's correct. It has a powerful psychological component. When it's a nice sunny day people tend to be more cheerful. When it's grey, even if it's not raining, and not too cold, people are more grumpy.

It is just a quirk of the climate of this planet that we have blue skies. It is entirely possible to have permanently grey skies, and have agriculture cope, it would adapt. I expect there are many planets where they never actually see they sky, and food grows, and they don't know any different.

So, really the sunny, blue skies are just something we've got used to.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. There are people who prefer night or overcast days. But they are a minority. They obtain their cheerfulness from other sources (or maybe they just don't bother having any). On the whole though, our cheerfulness level is decided by our outlook.

That's interesting, isn't it? It's outside of us. It's not even something we have any control over. OK, you could move from a place that has less sunny days, to a place that has more, but it's still not guaranteed. So, we are all at the mercy of the weather to decide on our mood for the day.

I refuse! Yes, Melanie is rebelling again. As much I prefer blue skies and sunshine, given the choice, and prefer summer to winter, and so on...I stubbornly refuse to be grumpy just because it's a grey day. I will NOT be miserable just because everyone else is!

I choose to be cheerful, because life is better that way. I choose to be silly and mischievous because it's more fun. I choose not to take myself seriously because that's boring. It's my choice and there's nothing you or the weather can do about it.

That was a short public service warning blog. Others will follow.