# 1 Write a diary

Around about May or June every year I decide that it would be a really great idea to write a diary. I usually end up wandering wistfully around Paperchase, mooning over all the lovely stationery and wishing that I had thought about the whole diary thing earlier. And then I forget about it all over again for another year.

I'm reading the third volume of Michael Palin's diaries at the moment and I'm quite envious that he's managed to get so much of his life on record. Not that my life is quite so interesting (oh to be that well travelled) but P & I are having an increasing number of "discussions" about what we did when, or when we went where and I'm wishing I'd started a written record earlier. Luckily we have lots of photos but they don't always help with the finer details.

So this year, I'm ahead of the game and a diary has been purchased. For obvious reasons this particular project had to begin before I actually turned 40 but luckily my birthday falls early in the year so, if all goes well, I should be able to record most of it and hopefully I'll be inspired to carry on in 2016.

Good old Paperchase! As you can see I went for decorative rather than practical - I can't resist a bit of colour. Look at all those empty spaces just waiting be filled! No doubt there'll be quite a few "Went to work - Came home - Had tea" days but hopefully they'll be balanced out by some exciting things too.

I also treated myself to a fountain pen, something I haven't used since I was at school. They're so nice to write with though and I'm now wondering why I waited so long to use one again.

We're in March now and so far I've managed to keep up with the diary writing pretty well, apart from the odd day. Hopefully I'll be able to keep going for the next 10 months.