Reach For the...Stars?

Of course, it's been rather nice having some unexpected time off work thanks to the snow, not least because I've been able to catch up with housework and get on with more writing. I've started a new Nearly King Jimbo story today and managed to whip out 1500 words before I could say 'writer's block -what writer's block?' I was thinking as I wrote that this year I have become a writer. My ambition has been realised.

And it's been good standing at the living room window, staring out at the stillness of the world and wondering what 2011 will bring. According to a magazine I bought last week, 2011 sees a return of Venus to my star sign which is good (apparently) and a recurrence of the kind of good fortune I last experienced in 1983.

1983?? I can barely remember what happened last year sometimes, let alone 1983. I tried to think. I was 17, 18 years old. I had left school. I had passed my driving test. I didn't have a clue what to do with my life but was considering a career in psychiatric nursing (I started the course but it was short-lived as I soon decided that crazy people had enough to cope with without me being foisted into their lives). But then I remember thinking that 1983 was a time I thought I should work for myself, maybe start up a business. So perhaps 2011 will be a good time to set myself up as a limited company, something I have been considering for a couple of months now.

I have the urge for another ambition, another goal. Luckily, I managed to talk myself out of applying to run in the London Marathon after having spent the previous few hours thinking what a great idea it would be. Oooh, I have to be careful of my impulsive behaviour sometimes. Cor, can you imagine it? Me pounding 26 point whatever it is miles?? Perish the thought!

Some amibitions, like the writing one, I feel I've achieved. I am happy with what I've done and I know wherever it goes, my writing will continue apace. But it is time to accept that other ambitions, I think, are likely to remain unfulfilled. Like being a size twelve. (HA!) And living on a small-holding. After all, we've got the allotment, the hens and the bees. We like what we've got and we manage it within the parameters of our lives. It is good. It is enough.

But what next? Ooooh, it's like waiting for an exciting guest to arrive!