We tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves at this time of year. We think we'll be happy when we've sorted everything out - the new job, the DIY, paperwork, the new kitchen and so on.

Many people seem to have a visceral objection to forcing an 'excessively rational' approach onto the personal, emotional sphere. There's a sense, for example, that planning your life too much will take out the romance.

My new year's resolution this year was to start smoking and so far it's going very well... I needed another guilty pleasure because a second new years resolution is to give up the booze since my folks - monitoring my lubricated antics over the festive period - have threatened me with rehab.

Tis the season for making promises to ourselves - and, possibly, others, though they'll have heard it all before - that we know we won't keep. My New Year's resolutions are going pretty well so far. I've resolved to do the following.

Less than 70 years ago, putting a spoonful of sugar into a cup of tea was a luxury in Britain. Today, a great many of us westerners have everything we could possibly want, but have been so numbed by money and peace that we have little frame of reference for the concept of "need".

I've realized that the start of a new year is more a time for reflection rather than going out, downing shots, being sick on my favourite shoes and then trying desperately to find a cab home.

I remember many New Year's Eves in crowded bars, complete with anonymous hugs from drunken strangers. People bellow out the words of Auld Lang Syne as part of the midnight ritual. "We'll have a friendly drink for old time's sake", roughly translates the most famous lines of the song from Robert Burns' Scots dialect.

In Peru, New Year's Eve is not only about the party, it's about making sure you start 2013 with the right food to eat. Don't be surprised if after midnight you start seeing people running around the block with a suitcase - they aren't lost - it's one of our several New Year's rituals.