What are you looking forward to this year?

Have you ever played the game of "If I won the lottery, what would I do?"  Even though I've never bought a lottery ticket I still find that this is an uplifting experience.  Sadly it's only a pipe dream for almost all of us.

But I've realised that there's another game that has, for me at least, a similarly uplifting effect.  It's called "What are you looking forward to this year?"

As you play you try and quite fully visualise and experience the event.  For example, if you're looking forward to the Goodwood Festival of Speed then imagine the noise of the F1 engines, the feeling you get from seeing motorbikes pulling wheelies for a hundred yards, or an F1 car burning out on the hill, and the sense of shared experience with your mates.

I always feel much more positive after playing this game.  And the particularly nice thing is that these events are actually going to happen.

My list for this year includes:

• Cycling round the Isle of Wight on May 2nd
• Easter vacation with my folks
• Goodwood Festival of Speed
• Tennis at Wimbledon
• Farnborough Airshow
• The next iPhone
• Bournemouth Air Festival
• A hot summer holiday somewhere in Europe
• The Tour de France
• The next version of Ubuntu Linux