Everything is relative!

So, another day without snow, although the weathermen promise us another cold spell coming in later this week with the possibility of yet more snow. However, a friend of ours in the USA was commenting about a weather warning they have had over there. Her house, she says, is on the edge of the zone which is in imminent danger of having 18 to 24 inches of snow! Yes, 18 to 24 inches! That's INCHES not CENTIMETRES! That is a lot of snow. Good grief, it's up to most people's knees. I am tempted to say that I will stop whinging forthwith but that would just be empty words. 

The snow might have gone but there is still quite a prodigious amount of water around. Little streams are overflowing and mud puddles abound. This I discovered on my second run of the year. More of a leap over the mud patches in some places, not to mention the point where I had to tiptoe round the edge of a puddle with aspirations to become a small lake. Be that as it may, I did manage to run and plan to do so again tomorrow, weather permitting. I also saw our local heron while I was out and about, even though he had flown off by the time I got my camera sorted. Perhaps he too has decided to get out and about more, getting more exercise between two cold weather sessions. 

Out in the wider world, Greece has been putting the cat among the pigeons with her elections, shaking up attitudes to the EU a little more. Their situation is another that should make us stop and take stock of our own country and our own lives. The newly sworn in president has promised to reconnect electricity to families who have been months without it. In the twenty first century we find ourselves with people in first world countries unable to have what we consider the necessities of life! Of course we could get by without electricity if we had to but, given that it is there and that we have grown accustomed to all the labour saving devices, we expect to be able to continue using it. 

More importantly, more shockingly, there are people in first world countries unable to feed their families adequately. And I don't just mean in Greece. 

 In the UK, despite the fact that certain experts assure us that the average wage has risen faster than inflation, averages include both above and below average. Consequently, a lot of people don't feel very happy with their situation. Here is a link to an article about who are the happiest and unhappiest workers in the UK. 

Interestingly nurses and teachers, two groups who are always praised for their sense of vocation, are included in the least happy. 

Also interestingly, they do not seem to have included bank and business executives who receive huge bonuses among the happiest, maybe they just take that as a given. 

Or maybe it is true that the more you have, the less satisfied you tend to be with your life.