Be gone, hair shirts

You've guessed it: I'm anti harsh NY resolutions as most are broken within days. So why put yourself through the dispiriting cycle of hope and failure? It's a good month for life-musing, though…

That sliver of light, stubbornly absent during the day. Photo by Ozzie Kirkby on Unsplash

I’ve been banging on for years about January being the worst time for abstemious behaviour. January with its frosty (snowy this week) mornings and flaring ribbon-of-vivid-pink sunsets. And its floods… So pleased we checked our new house is on slightly higher ground before moving. Others are less fortunate.

delicious. magazine was the first food mag to make its January issue The Comfort Food Issue, rather than the tedious New Year, New You issue – it must be 10 years ago now (can’t check as life-work magazines still to be unpacked). The response to the comfort theme was resoundingly affirmative; sighs of relief audible. For one thing, the run-up to the BFB (Big Festive Break) is all about cooking and cramming the fridge full to the gunwales (at least, that’s what everyone – including me, sorry – is encouraging you to do). Then you’re left with a seemingly equally crammed (how?) fridge of leftovers. …