Stress Blows.

May 7, 2008 - The sun came out in Vancouver. I have nothing to complain about there. It took what feels like forever for spring to arrive. According to Martin Z. Mollusk, Summer will be approximately 3 1/2 days early this year (he saw his shadow). In Scotland, today is Spring Day. In Vancouver as in Scotland, we wait patiently for the sun and warm weather after spending months in the rain. So with the smallest hint of spring... we (pardon the language) spring in to gear. Today, after cleaning the flat, I sat out in the sun, then headed for the golf course. It wasn't exactly St. Andrews, but I'll take it. No bitching.

In fact, today there shall be "no grumping, no frowning, no grousing, complaining, punching, slapping, hitting or killing." ¹For today may be the best day of the year. May 7th is the Great American Grump Out. Twenty-four hours without complaining? It seems that stress is one of North America's #1 health problem - and with all that is going on around us, I believe that stress is higher for everyone. So the folks at Smile Mania want us to spend the whole day without stressing about things we can't do anything about. When you get in the car in the morning for that dreadful daily commute, think about Sunday drives. That won't work, this Sunday the drivers were worse. Crap. I'm already grumping and I haven't left the house yet. Ok, when you get in line at the coffee shop, and the person in front of you is still trying to decide between hazelnut and vanilla, you're about to miss your bus, and are going to be late, think of days at the beach. Yup, sand in your knickers, and the folks beside you are belching the Greek alphabet. Blow hards! And me without my anemometer!

Without an anemometer, you can always use the Beaufort Scale - an empirical wind scale that Sir Francis Beaufort invented in 1805. I wonder if it will be windy on Beaufort Scale Day? It's also National Roast Leg of Lamb Day. I could handle the wind, but I'm not sure I would know what to do with a lamb on the lawn.


1. The Great American Grump Out is promoted by www.smilemania.com There's a great resource list on how to handle grumpiness on their site.