Happiness

Are you a happy person?

I don't mean right at this very moment, but in general. I've reached the conclusion that some people aren't happy unless they're miserable, that everything small and pleasurable in their lives is dismissed because it's not their personal utopia - yet their own utopia is dismissed as unreachable. So they 'make do' and are unhappy.

I'd like to think I'm a happy person. Sure, there have been times in my life when things haven't been great but that's been down to particular circumstances beyond my control. Once they were brought back under my control again and changed then - bingo! - back to happy.

I'd certainly claim to finding humour is just about every situation, and humour makes me happy. I know my sense of humour isn't to everyone's taste. I know my sometimes relentless teasing and attempts at jokes are not appreciated by some. I most certainly know that the surreal side of my humour is not understood by many - I meet more blank faces on a daily basis than the security guard on his rounds at Madame Tussauds.

But I digress. The point was that I now have my life pretty much how I want it. I'm happy doing what I'm doing, equally happy doing nothing. I'm not saying my life is perfect - not sure that's ever possible - but things could be a lot worse.

I'm a happy drunk (now my tendency to burst into tears between pints 9 and 11 if anyone paid me a compliment appears to have been cured by therapy), and I have the outlook on life of a fucking teletubby on anything stronger.

Most importantly, however, I'm happy on my own. I mean, I'm happy with other people too, but I quite like some time with just me, the cat, a cup of tea and a book. So happy on my own, in fact, that the thought of not being on my own fills me with a slight trepidation.

Anyway, why have I wandered aimlessly onto this topic? The following quote from Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island (which is both my favourite of his and so very true):

"One of the charms of the British is that they have so little idea of their own virtues, and nowhere is this more true than with their happiness. You will laugh to hear me say it, but they are the happiest people on earth. Honestly. Watch any two Britons in conversation and see how long it is before they smile or laugh over some joke or pleasantry. It won't be more than a few seconds. I once shared a railway compartment between Dunkirk and Brussels with two French­ speaking businessmen who were obviously old friends or colleagues. They talked genially the whole journey, but not once in two hours did I see either of them raise a flicker of a smile. You could imagine the same thing with Germans or Swiss or Spaniards or even Italians, but with Britons ­- never."