<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} </style> <![endif]--></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">The great thing about reading other people&rsquo;s New Year resolution failures is the smug feeling of triumph you feel when you realise that you haven&rsquo;t fallen at the same hurdles they have &hellip; or have you?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Take eating healthily for instance.<span>&nbsp; </span>I pride myself on being pretty accomplished in the kitchen and can easily knock up a balanced meal of proteins and carbohydrates together with all the necessary vitamins to keep us bright eyed and bushy tailed, so how come we haven&rsquo;t had so much as a leaf of fresh lettuce in the house since boxing day?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Hibernation, that&rsquo;s why!<span>&nbsp; </span>Nearest &amp; Dearest and I are pretty much workaholics except for that hiatus between Christmas and New Year when we more or less disappear from the world by sleeping late, (Ye gads almost to 9.00 a.m.) and then staying up to watch the dross on late night TV.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Apart from caring for the animals and the odd walk, we spend most of the time fiddling, (literally, N &amp; D plays the violin), eating the many permutations of left over turkey and reading in long, hot baths!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">As it is now over a week since Christmas Day, the culinary delights coming from our kitchen are extremely limited.<span>&nbsp; </span>We still have stale mince-pies, odds and ends of full fat, cholesterol boosting cheese and a shed load of chocolate!<span>&nbsp; </span>Puddings are mainly syrupy tinned fruit drenched in long-life cream and we&rsquo;ve a stack of carbo loaded, cheesy nibbles which I&rsquo;m grazing as I type!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I have never smoked since the disastrous episode when I was five and my older cousins stole my uncle&rsquo;s Woodbines. <span>&nbsp;</span>I was violently sick in his grey hound kennel and a dropped match almost burnt the place down!<span>&nbsp; </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">I do run on a regular basis, or should I say did!<span>&nbsp; </span>The trainers are still kicked in a corner of the boiler room from the last cross country I ran at the beginning of December and I&rsquo;m quickly running out of excuses as to why I can&rsquo;t get them back on!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;">Everyone talks about change and resolutions at the start of a New Year, for me just getting back to normal is going to prove a tough cookie!</span></p>

<p><span style="font-size: small;">So it's another New Year's Eve and I'm writing this before our very select party starts in a couple of hours.&nbsp; It's select because this year we've only invited our closest friends who quite frankly are completely mad at the best of times but New Year's Eve seems to bring out the worst or perhaps its the best in them!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">A couple of year's ago, under their influence, I rashly volunteered to ride the London to Brighton bike ride which is over 50 miles long and ends with a lung busting hill.&nbsp; Given the fact that my bike skulks in the shed for 95% of the year this was no mean feat when considered in the cold light of dawn and necessitated several weeks of intensive but reluctant training!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Another New Year gave birth to a project that nearly turned me grey over night!&nbsp; Being very creative people and whilst under the influence of the ruby stuff, we hit upon the idea of writing a novel in a day!&nbsp; This eventually formed part of the local arts festival and involved a huge amount of editing and co-ordinating with the other 12 writers who took part!&nbsp; Never again!&nbsp; Some of them are still barely speaking to me and this was five years ago!<br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Like child birth though, you soon forget the pain or in this case the aggrevation and the following year saw us making a multi-media version of a local folk tale which again formed part of the local arts festival.&nbsp; This project nearly drove me insane and almost had us ripping each others throats out! </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">This year, learning from the combustable nature of collaboration, we wisely decided to direct our efforts towards forming a specialist folk choir which so far is doing very well, probably because we're not using any of our own work!&nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">My personal literary efforts peaked in June with the publication of my book, Lambs For The Freezer published by Crowood Press.&nbsp; I've no idea how well it is doing, but visually it looks great!&nbsp; I also had a short story published in an anthology of winners which was nice as I don't get to write much fiction at the moment.<br /></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">We're supposed to make resolutions on the brink of a New Year, but I'm not going to do that because I can't remember any that I've actually kept!&nbsp; What I am doing is making a few life style changes beginning with my farming activities.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">I've managed to convince Nearest and Dearest that pigs are a vital part of our farming life so very shortly he will be building pens and enclosures for our porkers which will hopefully provide the vittles for my 60th birthday bash in the summer!</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">I'm actually 60 in February, but that's a rotten month for a birthday so I'm post-poning it in the hope of better weather so we can put the marquee up in the field and invite all and sundry.&nbsp; </span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">I've also dyed my hair red which is the first time ever!&nbsp; Actually, Darling Daughter did it when she heard I wanted to dress up as a witch for a Halloween storytelling event.&nbsp; After she'd finished the bathroom looked like a slaughter house and the effects on my locks have still not worn off!&nbsp; It's quite amusing to see the sideways looks I get when people I know first see it!&nbsp; Most are too polite to say anything, but one friend who I was at school with had no such qualms ...</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">"what ya done to yer 'air?" she said.&nbsp; I'm pleased to say our local vernacular is alive and well!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">With Jenny Joseph's poem in mind, I'm thinking about a purple streak when I hit the big 60.&nbsp; It's funny how liberating a bit of hair dye can be or maybe it just comes with age!</span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><span style="font-size: small;">Off for a soak now, hope the New Year is great one for everyone!</span></p>