#5

Actually buy the 'Big Issue'. And read it. Then you can look the homeless guy outside Sainsbury's in the eye as you turn him down for the rest of the year.

False Sense of Seasonal Security

As the year already skids towards February, we, the people of London, are being lulled into a false sense of seasonal security. After a cold patch, it has warmed up to, sometimes in the mid-teens.

Usually this would be something to celebrate (i.e. bikinis in Hyde Park etc) but we all know what is around the corner.

I'm very much used to savouring this coming short month. In New Zealand it holds a long weekend, and I turn another year older. As well this, it is generally New Zealand's hottest weather. But, on this side of the world, it is the month of meteorological doom.

Typical that it would be a leap year. Making the pain that slightly bit longer for me.

#4

Mid-week comedy night - fold yourself into a room the size of a broom cupboard in Leicester Square, with a bunch of other people, everyone beers in hand. Laugh until you are doubled over, discovering stomach muscles you never thought you had.

#3

On a rainy Tuesday night in, decide to do something fun the following evening. Five minutes later, after consulting the Bible (Time Out) and logging onto www.lastminute.com and you have half price tickets to a comedy night in Leicester Square. Then quietly revel in the fact that there is always something to do in London-town.

Hangover Happiness

There is nothing like a mid-week hangover to brighten up your week.

Not only are you usually late to work (thereby having to spend less time there); you spend your day eating absorbent (rubbish) food, not giving a damn about anyone whilst you laugh at your own hilarious jokes.

The only thing better than having weekday hangover, is sharing one with your colleagues. I have many a fond memory of standing around the breakfast bar at my last job, shovelling butter onto scones and retelling 'you had to be there' stories.

2008: The Year of the....

Word

I will saturate myself in these - both native and foreign.

Culinary Mini-Break

Fish and Chips in Brighton; Pasties in Cornwall; Deep fried pizza in Edinburgh. 2008 is the year of the weekend regional delicacy tour.

Engagement, Marriage and Babies

Yes, that's right. More than ever before people in my life will do this. Until I am the last woman standing.

Festival

Isle of Wight, Notting Hill, Arashiyama Fall Foliage Festival...... I'll see you there.

The last year of the:

Mind-numbing job. No more shall I sort mail and go home with phones ringing in my head. No more I tell you!

Purposeless roaming about the world that has so far characterised my life. I am now slowly carving a dirt path to my future. Ever so slowly.

#2

Have a 'real' coffee at the Borough markets and proceed to fly around the stalls in a caffeine stupor. Make sure you get to the cheese stall with a creamy blue practically oozing a trail off the table.

100 Things to Do in London Before You Die of Chronic Lung Disease - #1

Visit the cupcakes in Selfridges' Food Hall. Peer through the glass at their perfect little icing hats, as they squat in rows, giggling away at each other. The carrot with lemon icing cups are particularly cheeky. Grab some American peanut butter and laugh at the £22 bottle of mineral water on your way to the oyster and champagne bar.