I hope I’m not on my own when I say that I can hardly believe we’ve reached 1st October already. I know it’s a by-product of getting older that the time just seems to fly by and I am convinced that the years are simply slipping by without us really noticing!

Living in Glasgow as I do, I am usually ready to start turning on the central heating about now and gearing myself up for the long winter ahead. The Indian summer that the rest of the UK is experiencing has mostly slipped past us up here and the news pictures of sunny beaches at Skegness is somewhat irritating when I look out my window at the torrential rain outside, but I digress.

These are not “normal” times. We are almost certainly about to enter the “double-dip recession” that the politicians and newscasters regularly warn us about (not much chance of any of them being made redundant?) and money has never been so tight for the average man or woman on the street.

Taking all these things into consideration, I have decided that the 1st October should mark the start of a new beginning and a fresh approach to the world in general. I will free myself of the negative people in my life. I will knuckle down and find myself regular work in order to finance my somewhat wasteful lifestyle and the exotic foreign holidays that I so enjoy. I will do more exercise, eat more healthily and maybe even lose some weight – why wait until the New Year to have these resolutions – 1st October is the new black!

Failing that, my numbers might come up in the Lottery this weekend and I can just retire (but only if my winnings exceed the previous £2.50 of course)!