Miserable cheerfulness

Have you ever had that perverse feeling that you should feel happy compared to the next guy simply because the next guy is so darn miserable? These days I am surrounded by women friends who are so darn miserable, I feel I should be cheering every two minutes like a mechanical toy character out of an Enid Blyton book.

But misery loves company, they say. Does this mean that I would be surrounded by cheerful people if I was cheerful myself? Surely it would be the opposite - if I were miserable, I wouldn't seek solace in being with equally miserable people, I'd go for the cheerful person. But then does that mean that since I am currently surrounded by miserable people, I am cheerful right now? Or am I surrounded by miserable people because I am miserable too?

The female quotient of the Hong Kong population is now at an all time high, according to the latest news. It would appear that this female quotient is also utterly miserable - Chinese Sad Associate regales me with tales of woe relating to her female friends nearly every day. Cheating, lying boyfriends and husbands abound. It would appear there is something other than fluoride added to the Hong Kong water. The pyschiatrists must be making a fortune dispensing anti-depressants.
"Hong Kong men all cheat," Chinese Sad Associate declared - a sweeping generalisation if ever I saw one - "and that's why my friend's aunt became lesbian in her fifties."
Well, I guess there is always that way of dealing with it. Hong Kong may become the next Lesbos.