Dear LPG,

I have asked LPG to post this message on January 7^th which I think should be added to the national celebration day calendar for reasons I shall now try to explain…

I know that the memories of a very different Christmas are still with us, but now that 2020’s relatively subdued version is over, most of us will be looking to the new year with differing expectations; but expectations all the same.  When taking a look at the big picture, many will be wondering if we will leave 2021 with a pandemic which is well and truly assigned to history while, we will be looking forward to finding out if the many anticipated Brexit theories and outcomes we predicted will be shown to have helped or hindered our national progress.  But once we make our assessments of those things we have relatively little control over, the time will come to assess what we can do to improve our personal lot.

New Year’s resolutions are also very likely to come to mind, either because you refuse to start something you are sure you cannot finish, or because there is something you have made the decision to take on board, all be it an attempt to repeat last year’s aspiration, but successfully this time. 

Did you know that one of the top three resolutions made each year has a calorific theme, most people resolve to improve their financial or personal health in some way? 

Changing my diet is what I always promise to do but there is no point to getting started on January 1^st because there is still so much Christmas food left in the house and I always feel an obligation to finish that up before I start thinking about the self-denial that comes with diet territory.   So my ‘D’ day is the 7^th.  Tradition dictates that the decorations have to be down by the end of that day and, once the twinkling lights twinkle no more, their disappearance gives me a sense of ‘OK, down to business’.

So good people, if a diet was your way forward (again) this year, but your need not to add to the waste of the world by getting rid of all those left over Christmas titbits (let’s face it, conscience stops so many of us from throwing all that food away!), I ask you to join me today; in the new ‘D’ day resolution.  It really is never too late…

BC, Crofton Park