An activist holding a placard showing the merged faces of Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou and China's President Xi Jinping, protests against the upcoming Singapore meeting between Ma and Xi, in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei, Taiwan, November 6, 2015. As Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou was being peppered with reporters' questions ahead of his historic meeting with China's leader, Chinese state television was showing a dreary press conference on industrial reform. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Activists holding a placard showing the merged faces of Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou and China's President Xi Jinping, protest against the upcoming Singapore meeting between Ma and Xi, in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei, Taiwan, November 6, 2015. As Taiwan President Ma was being peppered with reporters' questions ahead of his historic meeting with China's leader, Chinese state television was showing a dreary press conference on industrial reform. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang 

A fitness instructor does some exercises for photographers with a human weight at a Gymbox gym in London January 21, 2009. A British gym is trying to add human interest to otherwise dreary workouts by replacing traditional dumbbell weights with human ones.The Gymbox chain gym in central London says fitness enthusiasts can now swap their usual lumps of metal for human beings in a range of shapes and sizes. REUTERS/Stephen Hird (BRITAIN) 

Human weights pose for photographers as they stand in a line in order of their weight at a Gymbox gym in London January 21, 2009. A British gym is trying to add human interest to otherwise dreary workouts by replacing traditional dumbbell weights with human ones.The Gymbox chain gym in central London says fitness enthusiasts can now swap their usual lumps of metal for human beings in a range of shapes and sizes. REUTERS/Stephen Hird (BRITAIN) 

A fitness instructor does some squat exercises for photographers using a human weight at a Gymbox gym in London January 21, 2009. A British gym is trying to add human interest to otherwise dreary workouts by replacing traditional dumbbell weights with human ones.The Gymbox chain gym in central London says fitness enthusiasts can now swap their usual lumps of metal for human beings in a range of shapes and sizes. REUTERS/Stephen Hird (BRITAIN) 

A gym member does some exercises for photographers using human weights at a Gymbox gym in London January 21, 2009. A British gym is trying to add human interest to otherwise dreary workouts by replacing traditional dumbbell weights with human ones.The Gymbox chain gym in central London says fitness enthusiasts can now swap their usual lumps of metal for human beings in a range of shapes and sizes. REUTERS/Stephen Hird (BRITAIN) 

A cameraman films inside of a decorated public transport bus that will travel across Romania's capital until the end of August in Bucharest August 27, 2008. Three such buses, furbished by the Romanian Culture Institute, will have French actors entertaining passengers in an attempt to transform dreary daily public transport. REUTERS/Mihai Barbu (ROMANIA) 

An actor plays the piano inside a decorated public transport bus that will travel across Romania's capital until the end of August in Bucharest August 27, 2008. Three such buses, furbished by the Romanian Culture Institute, will have French actors entertaining passengers in an attempt to transform dreary daily public transport. REUTERS/Mihai Barbu (ROMANIA) 

French actors stand in front of a decorated public transport bus that will travel across Romania's capital until the end of August in Bucharest August 27, 2008. Three such buses, furbished by the Romanian Culture Institute, will have French actors entertaining passengers in an attempt to transform dreary daily public transport. REUTERS/Mihai Barbu (ROMANIA) 

A wall is covered with posters of cram schools at "Goshi Village" -- goshi meaning "higher exams" in Korean -- in Seoul May 5, 2008. About 20,000 of Koreans have shut themselves off from the rest of Seoul and formed a dreary enclave on the edge of the capital where they study for some of the toughest exams the country has to offer in the hopes of becoming a lawyer or a top-tier bureaucrat. Picture taken on May 5, 2008. To match Reuters Life! KOREA-EXAM/VILLAGE REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (SOUTH KOREA) 

Placards promoting cram schools are hung at "Goshi Village" -- goshi meaning "higher exams" in Korean -- in Seoul May 5, 2008. About 20,000 of Koreans have shut themselves off from the rest of Seoul and formed a dreary enclave on the edge of the capital where they study for some of the toughest exams the country has to offer in the hopes of becoming a lawyer or a top-tier bureaucrat. Picture taken on May 5, 2008. To match Reuters Life! KOREA-EXAM/VILLAGE REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (SOUTH KOREA) 

Signboards of cram schools and restaurants are seen at "Goshi Village" -- goshi meaning "higher exams" in Korean -- in Seoul May 5, 2008. About 20,000 of Koreans have shut themselves off from the rest of Seoul and formed a dreary enclave on the edge of the capital where they study for some of the toughest exams the country has to offer in the hopes of becoming a lawyer or a top-tier bureaucrat. Picture taken May 5, 2008. To match Reuters Life! KOREA-EXAM/VILLAGE REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (SOUTH KOREA) 

A snowman stands in a park after a blast of winter bringing heavy wet snow and cold temperatures in north Vancouver, British Columbia, November 29, 2005. The unexpected wintry conditions offered residents a change of scenery in the normally dreary and rainy lower mainland on the Canadian west coast. 

A snowman stands in a park after a blast of winter bringing heavy wet snow and cold temperatures in north Vancouver, British Columbia, November 29, 2005. The unexpected wintry conditions offered residents a change of scenery in the normally dreary and rainy lower mainland on the Canadian west coast. REUTERS/Andy Clark 

A snowman stands in a park after a blast of winter bringing heavy wet snow and cold temperatures in North Vancouver, British Columbia November 29, 2005. The unexpected wintry conditions offered residents a change of scenery in the normally dreary and rainy lower mainland on the Canadian west coast. REUTERS/Andy Clark 

Low lying clouds envelope central Taipei February 3, 2001. Wet, dreary weather is typical in Taiwan during the month of February.

DCS/PB 

Washington police restrain and arrest a protestor January 20, 2001 during the inaugural parade of [President George W. Bush]. Dreary skies and a day-long rain covered the Washington area throughout the [Bush] inaugural festivities. 

Washington police restrain and arrest a protestor January 20, 2001 during the inaugural parade of President George W. Bush. Dreary skies and a day-long rain covered the Washington area throughout the Bush inaugural festivities.

GAC/HB 

On a dreary, rain-filled January 20, 2001, George W. Bush is sworn in on the west side of the U.S. Capitol building. In his inaugural speech, Bush pledged he would work to build "a single nation of justice and opportunity.

ME 

FOR RELEASE WITH STORY BC-MALAYSIA-CEMETERY - Workers clean the cemetery at the Nirwana Memorial Park just outside Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur June 23. Sprawling over 206 hectares staked in by fluorescent-coloured flags, the leafy cemetery aspires to shed dreary images of death into something more fun. Picture taken June 23, 2000.

ZH 

British actor Hugh Grant (R), shown in a August 17, 1999 file photo with actress Elizabeth Hurley (L) at a Los Angeles premiere, says his life was just too dreary for his ex-partner Hurley. In a interview published on December 18, 2000 in the German magazine Hoer Zu, Grant said "I would love to be a jet-setter, flying off to parties in New York and Monte Carlo. Obviously I was too dull for Liz.

BK/MMR 

FOR RELEASE WITH STORY BC-TAIWAN-VILLAGE - Taiwan Nationalist army veteran Kao Ching-lien, 89, stands inside his former residence in the Four-Four-South village, a dreary army shantytown in Taipei's new financial district. The tiny room had been Kao's home for five decades, but faces demolition as Taiwan's cramped capital looks for space to grow. The village was built in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government lost a civil war to Mao Zedong's communist troops and fled to the island. Pictures taken 14JAN99.

AH/CC/AA 

FOR RELEASE WITH STORY BC-TAIWAN-VILLAGE - The black-tiled Four-Four-South military village, built in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist troops lost a Chinese civil war to the Chinese communists and fled to Taiwan, faces demolition as Taipei's cramped capital looks for space to grow. The dreary army shantytown is located in Taipei's new "golden" financial district, surrounding by modern skyscrapers.

AH/CC/AA 

FOR RELEASE WITH STORY BC-TAIWAN-VILLAGE - Eighty-four-year-old Taiwan veteran Chang Li-cheng, holds a shining knief inside his house in the Four-Four-South village, a dreary army shantytown in Taipei's new financial district. The tiny room had been Chang's home for five decades, but faces demolition as Taiwan's cramped capital looks for space to grow. Chang is one of the few remaining residents who refuses to leave, keeping two knives at his bedside just in case his evictors show up in the middle of the night. The village was built in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government lost a civil war to Mao Zedong's communist troops and fled to the island.

AH/CC