Resolutions for 2012

The beginning of the year is a good time to set out what we want to achieve during the year. I have this daft idea that, if I write them down and share them with others, they will be easier to achieve.

Expect progress reports during the course of 2012 …

I will lose weight: I guess this is on the list of 75 per cent of people’s new year resolutions. I gained a stone (14 lbs) every seven years between the ages of 21 and 49 and I’ve been chugging along at 15 st (210 lbs/95.5 kg) since then. I don’t feel bad, but truth is that it’s a bit too heavy and I know that I eat far too many biscuits and far too much chocolate, crisps, nuts and alcohol.

Losing weight will entail cutting down on the chocolate (cutting it out altogether if the plan doesn’t work), eating no salted peanuts and only the odd biscuit. I will eat more fruit and eat only bread that I’ve made myself. I’ve been making bread from spelt flour to a recipe dating back to the Romans. It’s very tasty, gluten free and is a wholemeal product so it fills you up for longer and is better for your digestion.

I will have at least three drink-free days per week and I’ll aim to make it four most weeks. I’ve got into the habit of having a glass of wine, a gin and tonic (or two) every day and it is a habit. I will try to drink to socialise and not just for the sake of having a drink.

I will exercise more. Time is always against me, but walking is the key to improving fitness and I’ll try to walk from Victoria to King’s Cross at least three times per week. It’s hard in the morning because I’m often pushed for time. However, I’ll do my best and also strive to give the dogs a couple of good four milers at the weekend. I’ve been walking them across the fen to Great Knarr Fen Road and back the same way. That means Gravel has maximum time off lead and a really good run. It seems to have paid dividends – Margaret and I can see a difference with his doggy waistline even after just a few weeks.

I will buy a motorcycle – not sure which one or how much I will spend, but I will get another modern bike. I will also strive to get the two classics back on the road this year. I just need to make more time. I’ve really missed having a modern bike. The classics are a good idea, but they’re more for tinkering with than for riding. I wish I hadn’t sold the GS, but then I wish that I hadn’t sold every bike I’ve ever owned. You should never sell a motorcycle; stick it in the back of the garage if you’re not using it. They always come in sometime and the Lambretta SX200 I had when I was 16 would now be worth about four grand! I’d really like a BMW R1200ST, but we’ll have to see how the bonus pans out. I’m watching this month’s (and the year’s) figures very carefully.

I will get on top of work. It has been a really hard year. There have been so many distractions and so many people leaving that we seem to have been doing more fire-fighting than properly planned campaigns. I think we’re now getting a really good team together and a few extra hands, so I really hope this year will be more structured and I’ll be able to do the role I am supposed to be doing. I’ve not got that many more years until I retire and I’d like to enjoy the last few and feel that I’ve really achieved some things.

I will be nicer to people in London. It isn’t easy because London really does bring out the worst in you. I will try not to push people on the Tube and I will try not to kick pull-along cases. I pushed a nun last year, not hard, just enough to get her out of the way. Mind you, she had just come out of the station entrance stopped dead and was talking on her mobile phone (probably lost and asking directions, poor soul).

I will enjoy my garden. We have worked hard in the garden this year and we’ve spent a good £4-5K on summerhouse, decking, sets, bricks, pots, furniture! 2012 is the year we get payback – we can sit and enjoy it. Here’s hoping for a nice summer!

I will see more of my family. Family history work has also taught me to appreciate my current family more. We will visit the children in London; I see them regularly and often stay over, but Margaret hasn’t been to Tom’s since he got the house straight and she’s never been to Max’s new flat. I also want to visit my surviving aunts – Aunt Pam, Aunt Margaret and Aunt Joyce – and talk to them about my mother and father. It would be good to record that conversation and perhaps get Tom in tow, so that he could video it. How amazing would it be to have had some video of my dad, let alone grandparents or great grandparents?