I’ve seen a lot of debate recently about the usefulness of new year’s resolutions - are we putting too much pressure on ourselves? Are we pushing for hard to achieve activities when we should be revelling more in what we have and who we are? I think there can be an element of this and I can respect those who don’t care for a resolution one way or the other. I personally think, however, that it’s a great time of year to consider what you’ve done and what you might like to do in the coming months. Self-reflection can be useful.

Last year, I wrote a heartfelt missive that encouraged everyone to be nice. That still holds true to this day, perhaps even more so. I said, at the time, that I didn’t want to indulge in specific goals but now I regret that because I want something to look back on.

So, with that in mind, here are my goals for 2019:

• Finish the Alphabet Adventure.

I started this god-damn thing nearly nine years ago, and thought I could whip through the alphabet in a single set of twelve months. There are just two left to do, and even my mother has said that finishing things should be one of my resolutions this year. So, it’s on the list.

• Develop an app.

You know the score, I’m trying to learn Swift and iOS development (latest update here) and there’s only one direction that ends up going in, my very own app.

• Watch more old films.

Film Watch is still going strong, and we enjoyed an excellent 80s revival period during the last few months. But I feel like I need to go a bit older, get a bit more culture, delve into the black and white pictures of this world.

• Attempt a challenging walk.

I discovered the rather excellent concept of a long distance trail this year, what else is out there?

• Continue my cooking journey.

This year, I have two proud kitchen moments - successfully cooking with the HelloFresh Christmas box, and the fact that I don’t stop in the ready meal aisle anymore. I want to just keep this going - invest in my kitchen-ware and gadgets, have confidence to experiment with recipes, keep trying to replace processed and bought foods with homemade items (pasta and granola-type bars are next on the list), and just generally keep finding those proud kitchen moments.

That’s my specific goals, but as per 2018 “be nice, be thoughtful, be kind” are still top of the agenda. Welcome in, new year, let’s see what you’ve got in store.