New Year. Same Me.

 

Hello everyone. I hope you are ok. I am typing this while the Pottery Throwdown is on. I love Pottery Throwdown. When we are in what must be the fourteenth week of January, it's a cheery and helpful hour. I am working on calling everybody "Luvvie" like Keith. I think it would make me very popular. Then, it'll be Vera and I'm hoping I will have the faintest idea what is going on - unlike last week. Last week, when the killer was revealed, I still had no idea who it was and why they had done it. 

We have just had the second Friday in January, also known as "Quitters' Friday". This is the day that most New Year's Resolutions fail apparently. I am full of admiration for anyone who has made it as far as two weeks, to be frank. I don't know if you are the resolution-making type. It's very seductive. New Year. New Me. All that jazz. I read a piece this week that said that January could not be a worse time to plan a significant life change. It's cold, it's dark most of the time, people are mourning the passing of Christmas (apparently) and willpower is in short supply. Most people seem to want to do what they need to and retire to bed with a paperback and a packet of Hobnobs. Not that I know anyone who has ever done that. I'm not allowed biscuits in bed. 

When it comes to fitness - the most I can hope for is a return to pre-Christmas levels of slovenliness. I am experimenting a bit with skipping breakfast, mainly because the older I get, the less I seem to want to eat at 6.45 am. I do have a piece of fruit and some nuts at about 10.30. Sometimes I have an M&S chocolate wafer instead if the mood takes and customers have brought them in for us. Seems rude not to. Apparently, I need to be looking at my biome in more detail and eating thirty different plants a week. This doesn't seem as hard as it looks because you can include all sorts of things - including coffee. Yes, I do understand that I can't just have thirty cups of coffee a week and call it job done. My problem is that I seem to have an inbuilt aversion to counting when it comes to food. I mean really - counting? I think about it and I just say no. I just have a bit of a stab in that direction and hope for the best. This is probably why I can't make a Victoria Sponge.

Exercise is mainly based on walking to and from work about a mile there and back and most nights I do Get Fit with Rick on the old YouTube. It's not really what you would call exercise because it's mainly just an excuse to dance to Wham! and old Motown for fifteen minutes. Still, it does put an extra 2000 steps on my total for the day and seems to prevent me from falling asleep on the sofa at 8pm. What I think I probably do need is some Pilates or something to help my poor old back - which definitely needs a bit of strengthening or whatever will stop it from feeling like it has given up the ghost every morning. I found a Pilates exercise routine on the NHS website but it takes 45 minutes! How long!!? I have had it pointed out to me that I spend about that much time watching University Challenge or Mastermind - neither of which I like much anyway - but watch because they are either side of Only Connect and I can't be bothered to move. Although I am very keen on both hosts of those programmes. So I suppose it is entirely doable to do some Pilates. I haven't got around to it yet but I have certainly given it lots of careful thought. 

FOW2 has told me that she intends to take more photos in 2024 which is an excellent idea I think. I know it isn't the popular direction of travel these days but I thought about putting more photos on Social Media. Not so people would say enviously "What an amazing life she has!" because - well they. wouldn't would they? Because I don't. (Please don't write in and say "Well compared to someone in a refugee camp you do." Let's be sensible please). It's just that they are nice memories and I like looking at other people's and thinking. She looks nice. 

Sometimes, just to torture myself really, I look at the Instagram accounts of ladies who are my age but look a lot better than I do. (A LOT). People like Diane Keaton and Michelle Pfeiffer. I know, I know. It's their job and they have help from a lot of experts but I still like looking. I came across Ms Pfieffer's New Year Resolutions which she told us about while artfully styled for a teeny tiny night out in New York and I thought they were really good. 

1. Be more grateful. Obvious. Longitude or Latitude. My Attitude is Gratitude. (Victoria Wood. Always Missed.)

2. Tell the people that you love that you love them. (I don't think she means in a big speech or anything, otherwise, people would think you had a terminal disease. I think she means - casually - normalise it.)

3. Don't let your shyness get in the way too much. Try and be a bit more friendly.

4. Watch a little less news and read more books.

I like these. I'm not saying I will do them but I like them. I'd probably like to try and maybe add something I saw that Frank Skinner said. He reckons that if everyone prayed for 15 minutes a day the world would be a completely different place. I think he is probably right. 

Have a good week.