FIRST OFF a rather belated Happy New Year to one and all. I've been meaning to post for ages but a combination of Christmas, Swine Flu and coming back to a veritable mountain of work after the holiday has managed to keep me thoroughly distracted up until now (the mountain's still there, in fact it seems to be growing, I've just decided that it can look after itself for a little while).

For my first blog of the New Year I considered having a look back at 2010, but then I figured it wasn't the best year and that would only depress people, especially if you're an English football fan.

Instead I decided to write a rather witty (well I thought so) piece about the taxation of Romanian witches, but then the Romanian senate backed down, presumably in fear of being cursed (curses apparently being a more effective means of protest than throwing fire extinguishers). So that put paid to that, shame really as I had a rather nice joke about ‘Customs and Hexcise' lined up.

So therefore I'm going to have to bore you with a bit of self congratulation.

You see last week I finally qualified (Tuesday to be exact). So despite this supposedly being the most depressing time of year, and a colossal pile of work on my desk, I'm feeling rather good about life at the moment! Although I did realise that if I put all the letters after my name together it spells ‘stupid' in Japanese...

Anyway in an effort to spread a bit of my happiness around (and let's face it a bit of joy wouldn't go amiss at the moment) I'm going to suggest that everyone take up the BBC's ‘Happiness challenge'.

Basically all you have to do is:

Ten minutes of ‘daily mindfulness meditation' (basically sit down and think for ten minutes);
Express some gratitude to someone everyday (never hurts to say thank you); and
Perform 3 daily acts of kindness (I'd consider three a minimum)

Apparently if you follow these simple steps then you're on the path to happiness and contentment. That said I've just found out I'm getting kicked out of my flat (not my fault honest) so if the above fails I might hire a Romanian witch.