Having a bit of a crap week? Feeling a bit, well, iffy and find that things just aren't going your way? Well, if you're into horoscopes, or you just like having explanations for the fact that your dropped coffee all over your desk for the THIRD time this week, we have the answer.
In astrology circles, Mercury is in retrograde - an astrological 'phenomenon' that happens when the planet's orbit intersects with Earth and is moving backwards in the sky (although it doesn't actually move backwards - it's an optical illusion, science fans).
The retrograde happens three times a year, and according to astrologists is a time when basically, the sh** hits the fan. Because planets aren't 'aligned', astrology fans believe that everything this particular planet governs is out of sync during this period.
Because Mercury is the planet associated with information, travel, communication and commerce, during the retrograde, there's chaos, confusion and miscommunication in these areas.
Astrologyzone.com also tells us that Mercury rules "all types of code, including computer codes" - so blame Mercury for your laptop breaking for the fifth time, the fact your bus was late or that time you lost that vintage coat on eBay.
Astrology fans are even advised to avoid making "important moves" during the retrograde - like signing contracts or starting a new job.
Apparently only 24% of Brits actually believe in astrology, so many (this writer included) might not be convinced. But it is interesting when you see the lengths of people complaining about Mercury on scoial media - blogger Gala Darling was even inspired to write a blog post about the phenomenon.
But if you are worried about Mercury, we've got good news: we've already had a retrograde in January, and May - and the one going on at the moment (it's been happening since September 17th) is over on October 9th. So we have just three more days of mania to get through before we're free of the shackles of bad planet vibes.