January is whizzing by.

Already it is Burn’s night and I feel my feet aren’t touching the ground at the moment as I suddenly have so much to do.

Last  year I had the opposite problem. I spent far too much time sitting at home alone, chatting on Skype and reading Facebook messages. I was keeping busy but also marking time, waiting.

My need to change has grown slowly but now the process has taken off.

Last year I  made some decisions which will make this year a bit different from the previous ones I have spent in Catalunya.

1. I am planning to walk the Camino from Roncevalles to Santiago de Compostella.  500 miles!  This means I should be in training – now!  But although I am reading guide books and making lists of what to take, I have to admit I am not yet doing the walking that will get me fit in time for April.

2. I decided last summer that I must change my house situation.   I still have a home in Cornwall which is rented out. But it’s not ideal because although I go back in the summer and camp out in a chalet, I don’t have anywhere to stay when it turns cold.  What’s more, I spend much of my time in Catalunya wondering where to live and wishing that I had a garden and a proper home but the truth is I do have those things – in Cornwall.  It feels like I must sort this out – either use the Cornwall house or let it go.

Decision time.

3. This blog has already changed because  last year I made the switch to WordPress and bought the domain name for The Catalan Way.   After that I didn’t know how get the blog out into the world so that interested people could see it.   Again my need to change was very urgent but I didn’t have the know-how to take action.  Then a friend told me about an online blogging course run by Corrina Gordon-Barnes and I decided to invest in this.  What is the point of all this writing if hardly anyone sees it?  The course began in January and I am now in the process of looking at why I write, who am I writing for and what do those people want to read?

You are reading this so I am interested in you. What do you want to read?

This year started with a lot of new ideas and plans circling around in my head.

As well as all the above:-

I want to get involved in the local dog and cat rescue centre.  Since Bonnie died I miss being around dogs and while I am not ready to adopt a new one, I want to do something to help.

Since we moved my piano into our main house I have been trying to practice every day. Still plugging on with the Maple Leaf Rag.

Then there is meditation and yoga. And Spanish lessons. Catalan practice over a coffee once a week with a friend.

I also spend time with Lydia, my friend’s little girl. It is incredible that I had to wait until age 57  but this is the first time in my life that I have had chance to really get to know a small child.  Meeting twice a year isn’t enough – it’s the day to day things that bring you together.

I’m also taking photographs of Granollers for my Facebook page.  It has become an obsession, walking the streets and looking for quirky details.

And then there are the balnearis – I want to visit them all and then write a guide in English.  They are so amazing and not enough people know about them.  How many people go to Barcelona and have no idea about the hot mineral bathes only 30 km away?

Are you tired just reading all that?

Perhaps I have taken on too much?  But I don’t want to give any of it up. Suddenly I feel that time is not on my side and I don’t want to waste it.

Perhaps you will notice the posts here will change a bit over the next few months.  I’ll be experimenting with my writing. Please let me know what works and doesn’t work for you.  Gently, of course!

From the end of March I will be sending updates on my walk along the Camino. I will only have a phone so they will be short and sweet!  It will be good to keep in touch as, apart from a few etapes when friends are joining me, I will be walking alone.  Am I scared?  Yes.

And then in the summer, who knows?  I certainly don’t.

All I can do is follow an inner voice that is telling me it is time to sort out my own house.  I want to change and I need to change.  I imagine that after all this thinking and planning, walking the Camino, walk-eat-sleep, will be quite restful.