2017 – what a great year!

Well 2017 has been a much nicer year than 2016, hasn’t it? Nobody famous has died, nobody political has said or done anything silly, the climate’s been a bit chilly but nothing unexpected for the time of year, and there’ve been no terrorist attacks. Shame about Leicester, but you can’t have everything.

And no, I’m not deranged, I just live in the real world. Well, OK, the real world with a spot of footy. Since I chose toward the end of last year to stop using Facebook, I’ve saved myself vast amounts of utterly pointless stress and worry. I’ve also gained masses of time to spend on things that are far more relevant to me. Now I live my life, not the life of some constantly connected mid-Atlantic neurotic.

My life involves cleaning up cat poo and cat sick and removing fur from everything. It involves giving myself a severely strained elbow while using a crowbar to demolish two ceilings. It involves eating wonderful food and drinking a bit too much wine and never being able to resist just one more piece of cheese. And dessert. And yes, coffee too, thanks. It involves taking on far too much work because the subject’s so interesting, but I always get it delivered on time, somehow. It also involves – as of December last year – at least 10 minutes’ yoga practice a day, which has actually averaged out to be slightly more than 20 minutes every day, even when I had the flu. And it will continue to involve doing something new every month throughout this year.

My current monthly project is free writing, to a series of prompts set on a writing course two years ago that I hadn’t previously even had the time to look at. I’ve written stories with titles like Paradise, Leaves, Cloud dancing, and Fruit party. And I’ve discovered that my idea of the short story is one in which at least one person dies a violent and unexpected death.

But that’s OK, too, because my life involves learning things about myself. Not about someone I’m never going to meet who lives half way around the world and who I’d happily treat to a violent and unexpected death if I ever had the chance.

The only thing I miss about my Facebook existence is keeping up with my friends. It’s just not as convenient via email. But convenience is a small price to pay for living my own life.