HAVE YOU GOT your New Year’s resolutions covered? Or do you even bother? They’re a bit of a melt, aren’t they? January can be a miserable enough time as it is without purposefully denying ourselves pleasure.

We can thank the ancient Babylonians for this 4,000-year-old tradition. Aiming for some betterment themselves, their celebration was initially a springtime festival deeply intertwined with religious beliefs and societal norms. Pledging to clear debts and return borrowed objects, for them the New Year symbolised rebirth of the land bringing with it the promise of crops and prosperity.

No pressure then.

It feels like 4,000 years since I went to the trouble mainly because we can do without putting ourselves under unnecessary pressure at this time of year. Especially when our resolutions tend to be of the deprivation kind – you know, dry January, no chocolate, restrictive diets and the like. Of course not forgetting the poor souls who feel compelled to sign up to their local gym as soon as the doors open after Christmas.

In the run up to Christmas, I found myself tearing around the house, reacting to the stress and strain, bellowing out random instructions like, “New Year’s Resolution: Take something with you every time you leave a room and bring it upstairs!” and “New Year’s Resolution: Tidy up after yourselves!” Another one: “New Year’s Resolution: Flush the toilet when you’re done! Is anyone listening to me?”

Turns out I haven’t lost the........

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