What are YOUR resolutions for 2008? Probably the same as for 2007 and previous years if you are like me. Why do we all start out the new year with all good intentions for ourselves and then within days, if not hours, we abandon them and continue on with all our old bad habits?

I guess we are all creatures of habit when it comes down to it. But anyway, here are a few new years resolutions of my own, some of which have already fallen by the wayside and we are not yet through the first week of January…

- to drink less (alcohol)…okay, I’ll start tomorrow – again

- to walk for 30 minutes a day…ditto as above

- to make more time for myself for reading, listening to music and general maintenance

- to take up the viola again. I intend to start practising and hopefully playing again – I am hoping Belfast’s Studio Symphony Orchestra has kept my seat warm…

- be more positive, about everything

- visit the hairdresser more often

- cleanse, tone and moisturise EVERY night… like I used to

- give up reading mags like HELLO! and OK! and treat my brain to something more realistic

- dig up more info about my Dad’s family in my genealogy sideline

- see Les Miserables in London

Well, we can only try.

Copyright © 2007-2012 Cultured Views. All rights reserved.

We spent a very quiet evening at home this past New Years Eve, just as usual come to think of it. I watched the news and saw how cities around the world see in the new year and sat with a misty eye when I saw the celebrations in Sydney on the TV. There is nowhere quite like Sydney Australia on New Years Eve.

Before I left Sydney for the UK I spend New Years Eve 2000 at The Rocks and stayed in a hotel right under the nose of the Bridge. That was the only place to stay on such a night. From the early hours of the 31st people were pouring into Sydney and reserving their ‘spot’ along the foreshore and as the day wore on the whole place became one huge party. The atmosphere is always electric.

At midnight the people are treated to a fireworks display that goes on for about 20 minutes; boats on the harbour are all lit up and fireworks flame from the tops of the buildings. It is quite spectacular and once you’ve been there you never forget it.

Copyright © 2007-2012 Cultured Views. All rights reserved.

What has happened to the weather! When I left Australia to settle in Northern Ireland I accepted that cold weather would be part and parcel of my new life, I would even manage to see some snow if I was lucky…just how much I would end up seeing has surprised even me. Just take a look at the sort of weather Belfast is experiencing right now! People are actually leaving their cars in the snow and walking up to several miles just to get home of a night.

My first winter in Belfast was at the end of 2002 and I thought that the snow-covered front garden was lovely- from the comfort of my window that is. I had no idea just how much your opinion of snow can change, and how quickly, once you are stuck in it. I also learnt that snow and ice go hand in hand.

I took the baby out for a stroll in the pram treading carefully on the icy slippery footpath and got as far as the end of the street, then I got into diffs. There was a slight slope at the end of the road and I found myself, and the pram, having alot of trouble staying upright. And to make things worse I was wearing trainers, not a good choice on icy ground and they have no tread whatsoever.

I decided to turn and head back home and realised I had gone further up the slope than I thought and began to lose my footing and my grip on the pram. Honestly, I was quite worried and becoming scared. I found myself in the position of having to slide along on my haunches because my feet kept going from under me and I didn’t want to lose grip of the baby buggy. I must have looked a sight!

Fortunately a neighbour must have looked out his window and seen this woman sliding along the ground behind a pram; I reckon he came out to assist me after he had had a good belly laugh at the sight. Anyway, he let me hold onto his arm and guided me and the baby, asleep in his pram, back to our house. He is a typical Belfast citizen; kind, courteous and friendly.

From then on I have admired the snow from inside whenever possible.

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