As the UK and many European countries head back into a full lockdown it's hard at times to think of anything else. Everyone has an opinion, for or against lockdown, schools closing or not, vaccines good or bad and so on. But whatever your opinion on the subject, it is what it is and like it or not we have to make the best of it. There was a lot said at the start of the lockdowns in March last year about using the time productively, to get fit, learn a new skill, reorganise your home and so on. For me at the start I tried to embrace this and loved the inspiring posts I saw online. It kept me going in a strange and scary time and helped me focus. Being productive gives me a sense of achievement and I've always worked on the theory that even if it doesn't cheer me up, at least I've done something useful and taken my mind of things in the process. I do realise I was lucky and it was easier for me to do this than others in different situations. Not being in the U
I've always loved New Year, the very start of them at least. Many a New Years Day has been hungover to varying degrees, but once we recover from that I love the new beginning. I love a new calendar, writing in the birthdays and any plans that have been made for the year. As much as I love Christmas I like to get the decorations away, have a good clean and feel like we are back to 'normal'. I'm not one for making a long list of resolutions, but I do tend to have some in mind at least each year. I never plan to start them immediately though, I think that's a recipe for complete failure, for me at least. It doesn't seem to be mentioned much these days but it always seemed to be that people talked about giving up smoking for new year. Maybe they all did eventually but it's the main resolution I remember hearing about growing up, and then of course once I started smoking myself. I gave up almost 3 years ago now, not at New Year, although as the new