It's a dry New Year's Eve again

In order for me to secure Christmas Day I have to be on call for my firm on New Year's Eve. Not that I mind really as I have never seen the fun in getting off one's face over a moment in time.

If you think about it there is nothing obvious to celebrate. Unless we all got born on the first day of a year and all met our end on the 31st of the previous year, then the concept is all that it is. It's not an anniversary or a religious event or anything at at all except the celebration of the same day the year before.

Anyway, this year has been a bit of a blur to me. I can't recall much about the beginning of it. The only obvious thing for me this year has been the death of my father.

Oh and discovering a new joy in walking. I started that in August when I had three blissful weeks off work. Everyday I would get up early and go for at least an hour's walk and discovered some lovely spots very near home. I have tried to keep this up but as the year progressed three things interfered.

Firstly, the fading light from the end of November meant that it started to get too dark to get an hour's walk in before work, which leads to the second reason and that is that work has become increasingly demanding (which is a good thing when you are self-employed and employ others). Starting work earlier then combined with poor light and the third reason, the weather has meant that there have been fewer opportunities to have my daily stroll.

The point of these "ramblings" is I suppose that the walks are going to be part of my New Year's resolution. I want to get back to my 10,000 steps a day. It won't always be possible but it's something to aim for. Especially now that I seem to have added a few inches around the waist!

This takes me nicely into resolution number two. Lose some weight. Not a lot, just enough to shift those inches. That means learning some new healthy recipes.

Health means thinking about smoking. I like smoking so I'm not keen on giving up, but I have successfully cut down recently. For a few weeks now I have smoked less than 20 a day. In fact I generally only smoke about 12 a day now, sometimes a little less, sometimes more. It's easier to smoke less when I'm at work as the opportunities are fewer.

I can only see where this will lead. I make no promises to myself about cigarettes but if I do give up I want it to be a sort of natural giving up.

So that's my year, not a lot, I know.

Mary