End

So; 2012 is fast approaching an end. Time to stop and reflect on what has been achieved, and what, despite one's best efforts, has been less successful. Friendships gained and lost. Opportunities grasped courageously and those allowed to slip shamefacedly away.

It has rained a lot.

I watched quite a bit of sport, what with the Olympics, and Euro2012, and the Tour de France; and somehow managed to complete my first ever 10km run. Though stroll may be a fairer description. Otherwise, for a while I made more of an effort to get out on my bike; though this has fallen sadly by the wayside with the arrival of winter. And rain.

I read quite a few books, preferring to buy the old-fashioned paper copies rather than those new-fangled electronic versions (which, mark my words, will never catch on). In particular, working my way through the complete Sherlock Holmes has been a highlight of the last few years. I had another go at Proust but am starting to despair. I've still made no progress whatsoever on beginning my own novel. It would help, I think, if I had the faintest inkling of what to write about. The old adage of writing about what you know best is hardly inspiring when I stop to consider the uneventful life I lead. Unless I can somehow work computational chemistry and learning to play the lute into the plot. And rain.

I have managed to stay in employment, which is always a good thing in such difficult economic times. The bank balance is never as large as I would like. I am not sure what to do about this.

Notable are all the things I haven't done nearly as often as I would have wished. Like travelling to distant lands, or even distant corners of the land I'm in at the moment; or trips to the concert hall or cinema; or installing a new kitchen; or doing something creative with the garden; and lots of other things too numerous to mention. I could make them all into resolutions for 2013, but that might be a bit too ambitious. Better to pick something simple that I have some chance of achieving. Not the Teach Yourself Ukrainian then.