If you stumbled out of bed in the dark this morning,
fell over the cat, found no milk in the fridge for your porridge,
had a row with your partner,
received a rude letter from the bank,
got covered in snow at the bus stop and finally arrived at work in time to be made redundant, you will already know that
today is the most depressing day of the year.
And if you want scientific proof, then Cliff Arnall of Cardiff University has it.
He settled on January 24 after using an elaborate formula expressing the delicate interplay of lousy weather, post-Christmas debt, time elapsed since yuletide indulgence, failed new year resolutions, motivation levels, and the desperate need to have something to look forward to.
In short, all that's left of Christmas today is credit card bills and a pervading sense that the next holiday is months away.
An insurance company added to the gloom by saying that drivers are more than usually miserable in January, losing their tempers with those other road users who have no right to be driving in the outside lane at 48mph and impeding progress to a vital meeting in Birmingham at noon.
This syndrome, dubbed winter driver's disorder, could be the cause of two million accidents (but not all happening today, which happens also to be the 40th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill).
Yesterday the recruitment firm totaljobs.com stirred the gloomy pot by saying that 24/1 despair is likely to overwhelm employees. Michael Robinson, the company's marketing director, suggested that bosses could be extra nice to their staff today.
He suggested they should offer encouragements ranging from free tea (big deal) to an office party.
"Many workers are feeling the winter blues and it is up to employers to motivate their staff and keep them happy," he said.
"[Today] provides an ideal opportunity for employers to acknowledge the hard work that employees put into a company throughout the year."
But what happens if those same bosses have run up big Christmas debts, have driven in to work in driving sleet and suspect the business is heading for the buffers, must remain anyone's guess.
Reasons to be cheerful
1 It's only 334 days to Christmas. And the sales are still on
2 Two days of rain in South Africa and England will have won the Test series. They might just do it anyway
3 The days are getting longer and daffodils are already in bloom
4 It's the 70th anniversary of beer being sold in cans
5 So your credit card bill is huge, but holidays are cheap: it's just £159 for seven nights in Lanzarote
6 Celebrity Big Brother is over
