Just because I’ve been on holiday doesn’t mean I have to be happy

Part 4.- You are going to read an article about returning to work after being away on holiday. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (4.1-4.6). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

 

Just because I’ve been on holiday doesn’t mean I have to be happy

‘Holiday hangover’, ‘back-to-work blues’, ‘post-travel depression’ – it’s a well-known condition, and I’m suffering from it.

My cat. My tortoise. My friends. My bed. The list reads the some every time, but I still write it. I write it on the last day of every holiday, to convince myself that going home isn't so bad. Then I feel utterly miserable. There are plenty of things I'm not great at - driving, maths, returning library books on time - but the thing I'm worst at is coming back to work after a holiday.

It's an extreme case of being selfishly miserable. To have had a lovely sunshine break and then return to the office, where everyone has been working hard without restaurant lunches or morning swims, with a face like thunder is terribly bad manners. (4.1)____ Given the number of names for it - 'holiday hangover', 'back-to-work blues', 'post-travel depression' - it's a well-known condition.

In a recent survey conducted by a travel website, 62 percent of the 1,254 people asked experienced post-holiday misery. (4.2)_____ Probably just before they logged on to a job vacancy website or started fantasising about retraining for work in the countryside.

Even if you manage to avoid end-of-holiday panic, and you feel refreshed, relaxed, and ready to face the world of work, you're guaranteed to walk into stress, conflict, and injustice. (4.3)_____ Or the suprise departmental reorganisation that took place while you were away.

Still, it could be worse. Over three-quarters of people questioned said that their holiday depression lasted for a month. (4.4)_____ Perhaps they should have saved their cash and not bothered going.

After years of practice. I've come up with a few things that help a bit. The first is the list mentioned above, (4.5)_____ Unlike some people I know, I can't just roll off on an intercontinental flight and roll into the office. The third is concentrating on getting through the first day back at work without running away, making a grand plan for a new life, or spending (too much) time on my own tearfully looking at my holiday photos saying to myself: 'I can't believe this is my life.'

I feel sorry for my poor colleagues having to look at my long face today, but at least by having a break now I'm getting my bad mood in early. (4.6)_____ Then I can support them in their hour (month?) of need. I might even lend them one of my pets.