No, I am not going to do that

and I am not going to even try. I have no desire to try because it will end in failure.

New Year's "resolutions" could actually be made at any time. It does not need to be a "new year". In one sense every day is the start of another sort of new year or new beginning. There is always the possibility of a new start.

This is not to say of course that it would not be good to make a long list of things I would like to do or change...and stick to it. I won't though because I never seem to do or change those things. Putting them on a list is almost certain to make sure they do not happen. 

I prefer my "I will try" list. It is there in my head. I do not write it down. I simply think it.  There are things on that list I might achieve but it won't be a failed resolution if I fail to achieve them.

There is another list of course. That is the list of things I must at least begin to do. I was lying half awake on my sleeping mat this morning and thinking about those things. There are some major items on that list. They are not in the nature resolutions. They are things like sort out more of the too many items lying around here, pass them on to people who can use them or give them to charity. It is slow work because Middle Cat and Brother Cat need to be consulted. All too often they tell me, "I might need that" or "I want that so put it to one side until I get there" or "I know someone who might like that so don't give it away". Somehow I am not getting very far with all the clearing out that needs to be done but there is now more urgency about it than before. 

The executors are saying that someone will be here in mid-January to look at the house, to value it. After that there will be more paper work but probate on the Senior Cat's estate will be finalised soon after that. It must be done by law. We have come to an arrangement which means I can stay here for now but I need to continue to search for something else, something smaller and much easier to handle. This house, although not yet fifty years old, will almost certainly be bought by a developer. They will put two dwellings on the block because the rules have changed and that is now possible. I have just been told that, two houses along, there are plans to knock it down and put up two. They will be two levels, something once not common in this city. I wonder how an ageing population will cope with stairs. No doubt the people who make those chair like stair lifts will make a profit.

I look forward to this coming year with some trepidation but some hope. Being a non-party sort of cat I did not go out and party last night. I spent a little time looking at a book of knitting pattern charts.There is something I would like to make this year. It's a plan, not a resolution. I may get it done. If I don't then, hopefully, I will get it done the following year.  

Plans seem to be better than resolutions.