The Unwitting Traveller

“Wishing you a Splendid New Year full of Sparkles” was how the eldest Pink Tornado, in full song and dance, went around greeting everyone during the Christmas Holidays.

Despite our seeing in the New Year pent up in a rather tired looking room at the Garden Court Hotel at Johannesburg Airport with nothing more than a cup of tea and a small packet of Dorito’s chips shared between the four of us AND after spending that entire day in flight from the UK back to South Africa AND both the adults of the group nursing head colds, complete with blocked noses, squeaking ear drums and obligatory ear ache, I’d like to at least share the sparkling sentiment with everyone and hope that 2013 is a great year for you all!

Suitably sparkly – the Jenner’s Christmas Tree, Edinburgh

Whilst the end of one year tends to bring us into review mode and set resolutions for the forthcoming year (none of which I manage to keep) – I’ve decided to buck all previous annual habits this year and do neither.  My year did not start with a Bang! – more of a sniffle; I still haven’t the energy to set forth any plans and goals except maybe one:

Instead of starting the year full of enthusiasm and positivity with set goals and absolutes, which inevitably wane as the year progresses, I think I would like to take all the things that I currently do enjoy and gently ramp up my productivity so that by the end of the year I’m actually proficient at something!

Let’s face it, I know I can bite off more than I can chew: I set about trying to do too much in one go, lose perspective and  then give up without really accomplishing very much (I’m thinking about how I go about trying to learn languages as a particularly good example).  There’s also nothing worse than feeling like you HAVE to do something.  Instead of something being fun, it becomes a chore – and that’s a sure fire way to curtail any enjoyment.  My will power and self-discipline only stretch so far…

So, here’s to 2013 – may it be a good ‘un – however you plan to spend it!