I never wanted this blog to become something that becomes an obligation to me. I have been updating it since February 2002, and intend to carry on doing so infinitely.
I know with all 'leisure' activities that as soon as they become less attractive than, say, work or household chores, it's time to give them a rest.
I was feeling a bit this way about the blog, and, as I have said several times before, Twitter doesn't help - I think I share this with several bloggers. It's easier to dash out 140 characters when an instant thought occurs. 140 characters is only sufficient for one thought; you expect the reader to realise that and not demand clarification, expansion or illustration. It takes considerable skill to write a truly memorable tweet, but, like headlines or soundbites, the mundane and functional takes little effort for anyone who has writing as second nature.
I was guilt-tripping about this blog, then I just decided to stop guilt-tripping.
1 September seems a good time to take a deep breath and start again.
I have often expressed my indifference to the official New Year starting on 1 January, that, the depth of winter is actually the worse time to resolve to self-improvements, and it's an arbitrary date that bears no resemblance to the natural rhythms of life.
Easter is a far better time to consider renewal, Easter being a corruption of the pagan festival of fertility and renewal. I don't consider myself a Pagan, but prefer their rationale for Festivals than the Christian rationale for stealing them.
Although I have been out of the formal state education system for 21 years, there are still good reasons for seeing 1 September as the start of a new year. Parliamentary terms are similar to school terms, which influences the headquarters of government departments. The retail world is geared to 'Back to School'.
The football season starts in mid-August, but I always feel those first few weeks are skirmishes; it's only in September that the League tables start to take on any meaning. The Last Night of the Proms, for all its ghastliness, is a signifier of the end of summer, and it coincides with the start of the new season for the opera houses and concert halls.
So I am resolving that from 1 September I shall re-apply myself to blogging with diligence. But only to the extent it doesn't interfere with all the other duties I am resolving to meet!
