13. Do more freelancing/89. Have my own side business

I’ve just realised these are the same! However, it seemed to be worth writing it down twice as I've achieved it and now have my own website. Thanks to that and some lovely word-of-mouth recommendations I have been able to get some private PR clients! It’s fabulous to have more work and that it is varied too!

www.macmabel.com

93. Have someone trust me to look after their dog or child

Oh dear. Well, I did achieve this literally. However, when it came to the actual looking after, it all ended in tears.

What happened was that my sister asked me back in June if I could look after her son for a weekend in September. I was thrilled by this and said yes, yes, yes! He’s a lovely little boy and I hardly ever see him!

However, I emailed her about it recently and didn’t hear back and assumed it was off. She often cancels things as she’s very busy, so I signed up to do something else on the Saturday.

Then she called me and asked if I could do it. I said yes definitely to the Friday and the Sunday. She went absolutely mad, asking what was the point if I couldn’t do the Saturday. I felt terrible about leaving her in the lurch, so said that I would cancel my course. She’d hung up by then. I called back and tried to tell her that I could do it, but she said I’d already angered her and it was too late. She hung up on me again.

No one now feels very good about this, so if I tick it off my list (as technically she did trust me with her little boy!), at least some good has come of it!! I have also noticed that I put "dog or child" in that order. That should have told me something!!

72. More wild swimming (as it’s £4.30 per swim at the swimming pool!)

Much to my shame, I have only recently discovered that there is an outdoor pool in my town! It’s a beautiful 75m long lido which was originally built in the late 1800s and rebuilt in the 1940s. We’re so lucky to have it (particularly as it’s cheaper than the indoor pool), and I have been making the most of it on overcast days when it’s not packed with children and inflatables.

At first, it was a bit of a stretch to swim a whole length as the pool I’d just cancelled my membership with was a mere 15m. However, with a little practice, it’s now doable and it’s a fabulous feeling to get out of it having completed an hour’s worth of swimming.

If you’re into outdoor swimming, I can’t recommend the beautiful book “Wild Swim” highly enough. It’s packed with such wonderful pictures that you’ll want to pull on your bathing costume.

If you live in London try this inspiring, witty and informative blog:

www.swimmingroundlondon.blogspot.com/

95. Sort out home office

I’ve been working from home for a while and love all the time I’ve saved not having to drive to London every day – a round trip that could sometimes take five hours. Originally the plan was to work from the upstairs bedroom, but I’m comfortable with the dining room table as none of my internet/phone wires extend upstairs. I’ve finally found a balance between my home comforts and my work papers, each one threatening at times to drown out the other. I’ve got rid of all the work journals, books, nicknacks, presentations and paper that I don’t need and work from a simple two shelf in-tray and my laptop. I get so much more done and I have time (while my computer is thinking or I’m between jobs) to do a bit of cleaning!

53. Have an English student and become a homestay mother

I have a very nice student staying with me! So far, I have managed not to poison him and have even imparted some knowledge to him. He’s an 18-year-old French lad and is very pleasant to have in the house. I am enjoying his company and showing him round our town, although he’s here for three weeks so the novelty of the area will wear off tomorrow at the latest....

86. Have someone tell me that I inspire them.

Very strangely, this happened twice on one day, and both on the same day that my mum and sister had spent the morning telling me how useless I was....

I have a very unusual problem. During the night, I suffer from night terrors which quite a few children suffer from, but very few adults. It means that often I half wake up and during this period of half waking and half sleeping, the room is real, but the person standing over me menacingly is not. I usually scream and then fall asleep and forget about it. This means I don’t sleep well, but the real problem is for my poor husband who gets woken up, sees me in distress and also doesn’t get a full night’s sleep.

Unfortunately, this occurs more when I am stressed as I am a bottler of problems. There’s no-one I can speak to about the things that bother me, so my worries tend to manifest themselves at night.

When I had a night terror while my sister was staying with me this weekend, she went absolutely mad at me the next morning, saying she hadn’t had any sleep and that if this carried on, I would make a terrible mother (I am four months pregnant).

Although she implied I’d done it deliberately, I absolutely can’t help it. She yelled at me a bit about how selfish I was. I told her that her shouting wasn’t really helping with the problem, to which she sarcastically said: “OH, it’s MY fault, I am soooo sorry – what can I do for YOU?” before slamming a door in my face.

Now, I mention this so there’s a bit of context to how upset I was, so I went for a swim, and then I thought I’d go for a walk and happened upon an open day at a local monastery. While I was there, a woman came up to me and said she recognised me from when I used to work at the local paper. She then made the connection between myself and my husband and much to my surprise, told me how impressed she was with our hard work and commitment to the community (this would be my husband, not me), but then went onto say that she used to enjoy my newspaper articles and remembered one interview in particular - when I met the wonderful Ken Hom!!

Later on the same day, after I had manoeuvred my now-giant head out of the door, I caught up with my friend who tried to buy me a coffee which is one of the things on my BANNED list for the baby! She guessed immediately and told me that I was a lovely person who would make a wonderful mum which made me cry as it almost cancelled out the heavy doubts that my sister had put into my head.

Thank you to the lovely women who believe in me. Even if it’s not true, your timing could not have been better.

xxx

90. Have more articles published

Done! I've actually done this without giving it too much thought, As is often the way, I've been incredibly busy recently and of course being busy seems to be good for business! I've done some freelance work on all kinds of different subjects and also been invited to do a few entertainment reviews and intereviews at for my old workplace.

Here's the latest which was a review of comedian Arthur Smith:

Sadly, a superinjunction prevented comedian Arthur Smith from appearing at the Corn Exchange on Saturday night, so it was Canadian legend Leonard Cohen who replaced him, coming on stage singing “I’m your man”.....

After throwing off his hat and revealing himself as “Leonard Cohen’s only tribute band”, proceedings continued with one of Smith’s most anticipated and famous jokes; “My name is Arthur Smith, or if there’s anyone here from Streatham Tax Office, my name is Daphne Fairfax”.

“Arthur Smith Exposed!” continued thus with Smith flitting between a couple more old jokes, lots of new jokes (one told in French), poetry recital, audience participation in the form of a woman called “Miss Don’t you Dare!” and anecdotes about his life from his autobiography.

This kind of disjointed show could have been a bit of a mess, however, Arthur Smith is such an affable and likeable host that it all came together as an entertaining showcase of his life rather than an eyesore (although the same might not be said of his “funny pants” that made an appearance early in the second half).

The second half also unfortunately saw him omit his successful Leonard Cohen impressions, but in a reference to his regular appearances on panel shows, particularly the popular BBC show Grumpy Old Men from which he seems best known, audience members were invited to submit on paper the things that got them equally irked.

Smith is a funny man, and rightly described as comedy royalty, having been there at the birth of the “alternative scene”. His easy charm and man-of-the-world delivery endeared him to the crowd, not only thanks to his strength as a raconteur, but also as he’d clearly spent time researching Newbury ie making jokes about Thatcham and reading from the NWN.

In fact, it was his gentle story-telling in that mellifluous voice of his that seemed to be most appreciated. Stories such as his meeting notorious gangster Mad Frankie Fraser while playing Hamlet and about Eric Sykes’ feelings regarding Bruce Forsyth scored highly, as did his brave and deeply personal insights into his father’s WW2 experiences and Smith’s own brush from death from acute necrotising pancreatitis. However, there are plenty more of these anecdotes from his colourful life that he didn’t choose to share which would have been equally well-received, for example, meeting Bill Clinton, his adventures with Denis Healey, and his time at the University of East Anglia where he studied creative writing under the tutelage of Malcolm Bradbury.

His poems – one on Paris and one which paid homage to Rudyard Kipling’s “If” added poignancy and showed off his writing capability and originality, and there are not many comedians who would end their performance with a song about a dancing bear. Great stuff.