Popcorn And Dreams

Like many people, I've had to tighten my belt a bit recently. Sadly the recession (for it is now officially so) seems to have put everyone in the same boat and now most people are now as skint as I am. Last year I went onto a voluntary debt management plan with the CCCS who are a charity that decide how much you can live on, contact your debts to have them frozen, then you pay them monthly and they allocate the payment out. This means I will be debt free in a couple of years which is more than a lot of my friends can say.

I wasn't in a lot of debt, and it wasn't that I owned all the latest gadgets, went on numerous holidays and soled my shoes with diamonds. It was simply an accumulation of being young, living in an expensive city and constantly changing my job and housing for various reasons. Anyway, they've set me a budget and  I live on it and it was the most financially sound move I ever made. But, although it's helping me pay off my debts, I don't have much money for going out or buying things that make me happy (weaknesses being magazines, DVDs and shoes!)

I've found a couple of ways around the situation however; I asked for magazine subscriptions for Christmas and I just bought a Cineworld unlimited film pass so I can see as many films as I like each month. Shoes are a worry though - I may have to become a cobbler!

So now for £11.99 per month I can watch films to my hearts content. (I just love films) today I'm going to see 'Slumdog Millionaire' and I'm imagining I won't even get a hint of a tan this summer as I'll be in a darkened auditorium, sticking to the floor and ignoring the recession.

Bringing In The New

Doesn't Christmas seem a long time ago now? I took my cards down this morning as they seem so old and tired already. 

So just New Year’s Eve to go now; I’m not a massive fan as it goes – the streets are always full of drunken idiots and vomit, you have to buy a new outfit, pay a fortune to get in somewhere, queue for ever to get served at the bar, lose half the liquid on your way back to your table (if you were lucky enough to get a seat) worry about getting a kiss at the stroke of midnight, and risk hypothermia on the long walk home or pay half a month’s wages for a taxi back.

I prefer to avoid the whole thing altogether; I just see it as another year closer to my death and who wants to celebrate that? I prefer to just go round a friends house for a drink or two, then get to awaken daisy-fresh on New Year’s Day and go for a bracing stroll along the seafront and have a think about the coming year and what I would like to achieve – an emotional audit if you like. I think winter is a natural time to bed-in; to make things, snuggle up, take stock on the past year and prepare for the new one.

I think a lot of Brits are a bit worried about what the new year will bring; unemployment levels are set to rise to 3 million, homes are being repossessed, people are really tightening their belts and everyone is a bit anxious as to what 2009 will be like.

Me? I know that 2009 will be my best year ever – my new business will be extremely successful so I will become profitably self-employed by March, I will find true love and happiness, and I will continue to endeavour to be the best version of myself that I can be. And I can say these things because I know them to be true.