Weather - here and there! Happiness. Demonstrating.

On Saturday evening, in a weather report on the television I heard this:

 “It’s been a very mild day in Scotland and the North East of England - 16 and 17 degrees.”

Here, by contrast, it was cloudy and a bit windy and cool. We walked up to Heights Church and watched the mist roll in - very chilly. It made for a very Wuthering Heights sort of atmosphere up in the churchyard. 

Various sources seem to have gone out of their way to let me know that yesterday was International Happiness Day. Good grief! We missed it! The first thing I saw about his was a cartoon with a grumpy woman complaining that her husband had eaten all the ice-cream and the grumpy husband replying that he could do what he liked as it was International Happiness Day. Consequently I assumed it was some kind of joke. But it seems to be a real thing

“The day was first celebrated in the year 2013. The General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 20 March as the International Day of Happiness in its resolution 66/281 of 12 July 2012. The resolution was first initiated by Bhutan. The country has prioritised the value of national happiness over national income since the early 1970s. Bhutan is also known for adopting the goal of Gross National Happiness over Gross National Product.”

So it’s a United Nations affair, founded by someone called Jayme Illien

“OUR MISSION

To serve as a beacon of light, inspiration, and hope for all who aspire to live happy and fulfilling lives.

 

We achieve this by selecting the official #InternationalDayOfHappiness annual theme and announcing the annual tradition: Ten Steps to Global Happiness. And by working to promote and advance:

 

1. Happiness as a fundamental human right and goal for all
2. Happiness as a universal aspiration in the lives of all
3. Happiness as a way of living, being, and serving communities and society
4. Happiness as a north star for individuals, communities, governments, and society.
5. Happiness path toward achieving the sustainable development goals
6. Happiness as a “new paradigm’ for human development
7. Worldwide celebration of the international day of happiness that is democratic, diverse, organic, and inclusive”

Perhaps we need more of this and less talk about how depressed everyone is. 

However, the depressing stuff does keep on happening. Lots of Parisians have fled their city to avoid the lockdown. Rushing off to other parts of France will doubtless help their contagion situation! I don’t think. 

Anti-lockdown demonstrators have been out in London, and Manchester, and Berlin. Reports suggest that they were largely maskless. The police say they couldn’t arrest all of them. Since the outcry about the police reaction to the vigil for Sarah Everard I rather get the impression they are trying to be a little more lowkey. Incidentally someone on the radio yesterday, possibly on the Any Answers programme, described having been at the Clapham vigil, a calm, quiet, socially distanced affair ... until the police moved in and forced everyone closer together. 

We live in a very mixed-up world!

But...

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!