Jilly over at jillysheep has prompted me to think about what I might want to achieve in 2010. This is not something I normally do, as I have always been content to drift with the tide and see what washes up.

But in 2010 I would like to:

1. Win the lottery jackpot (minimum £2m)
2. Lose 50 kilos (I keep telling you I’m hugely overweight)
3. Do all the cooking (like I used to)
4. Get the bathroom rebuilt (probably requires #1 as a prerequisite)
5. Get the house rewired (also requires #1 as a prerequisite)
6. Get the whole house tidy, uncluttered and clean – and keep it that way
7. Get the two-thirds of the house which badly needs it redecorated (another that requires #1 as a prerequisite)
8. Go on at least three 2-week holidays, one railway-based, one to Europe and one naturist in the sun
9. Travel from Thurso to Penzance by train.
10. Have a good sunny summer and be able to walk skyclad all summer around my garden

That list was a joke! Yes, I would like to do all those things but the chances of achieving them are at best 1 in 14 million (ie. the chance of winning the lottery at any one attempt. If I win the lottery (odds over the year probably 300 in 14 million) all except #2, #3 and #10 become relatively easy.

OK, so let’s be realistic. What do I stand some chance of achieving?

1. Lose 15 kilos
2. Get out to the shops (even the dreaded supermarket) at least once a week (ought to be easy now I’m retired)
3. Cook 3 meals a week
4. Go out to take photographs at least once a week (also should be easy)
5. Write 2 weblog posts a week
6. Get the heating fixed (like Jilly, we have an annoying intermittent and unsolved problem)
7. Grow a year’s supply of chillies – on the study windowsill (given that we use a lot of chillies and said windowsill space is limited this will need a very prolific variety)
8. Get my Anthony Powell Society work up to date, and keep it that way
9. Get the sitting room and dining rooms properly tidy and inhabitable
10. Rejuvenate my fish tanks
11. Go away on holiday for 2 weeks
12. Make some major progress on my family history (yes that’s vague; first I have to take stock of what I’ve got)

And if I actually manage to achieve half of that lot I should be satisfied.

I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions – that’s just setting oneself up to fail, because they are always so unrealistic – so I’m not going to start this year and I’m not even going to commit to trying to achieve any of the above. They are what I would like to achieve. It’s a “wants list”, not a “must achieve or else list”. One reason I took early retirement was to get away from the incessant round of unachievable “must achieve or else” objectives. That way come madness and depression. 2010 is about relaxing and finding a life again.

Happy New Year to everyone!
Please don’t go out celebrating and get frostbite. 🙂