Anthea Turn er

Well, in light of a few articles in the magazine this week, I thought we should talk about lists.

You know by now how much I adore a To-Do List. I am the woman who can make lists about the lists I’m going to write. I love them to the point I have lists on my smartphone which – through The Fluffy Magic Cloud – keeps them coordinated and updated with my computer. But because I am a child of the ’60s and will never totally trust technology, I have in my possession at all times a notebook and pen (I also have cash and a torch, plus my name, address and partner’s number written on the inside of it. Who does that these days? We do!)

But this is the thing. On all my lists, lurking at the bottom are the tasks I don’t get round to completing. Occasionally I glance at them, a little as I did aged seven, dealing with my fear of Daleks or – worse – Cybermen.

These To-Do List horrors range from people I need to contact but have left it so long it’s embarrassing, to mammoth jobs like going through a heap of household paraphernalia from a previous life, all stored in a lock-up. The problem being, I know when I finally open the container, a gazillion ghosts will fly out and knock me to the ground in their stampede to mess with my head.

Then there are DIY jobs – nice to complete, but not so essential that they impede my life. I justify not doing these by saying “when I have the time”, knowing full well I didn’t find the time to do them during a national lockdown.

2021 I feel is a year for us to fix our dilemmas. These tricky tasks I’m putting in my diary and treating like any other job, with focus and a completion date. As for my long embarrassing list of friends to contact, maybe I’ll pick up the phone and do say, three a week? But then we’re going to make arrangements to meet, and I won’t have time. Then they’ll be on my Must Meet Up List, because I have one of those… No, I’ll delete them all and wait for them to ring me. Love, Anthea X www.myweekly.co.uk