AND so Blue Monday is almost upon us.

The third Monday in January is the day we are frequently told is the most depressing of the year.

Christmas has vanished as quickly as the sales bargains, and it seems like an awfully long time until tshirt and barbecue season.

However, I have decided to look for the positive somewhere.

Yes, I miss the cosy ember-lit hours of the festive season when it's perfectly acceptable to have alcohol and chocolate for breakfast, but the reason we appreciate these times is because they are special.

If we lived like this all winter we would emerge blinking into spring three stone heavier, and with terrible liver damage.

I have chased the last shreds of the season as if I were forlornly pawing the last three Quality Street round the bottom of the tin, but now I do feel ready for a change. I'm going to reassess what will make me feel good. One of those things is exercise, which is something I never thought I would enjoy.

I'm not sporty, and many different forms of it don't suit me, but I think it is about finding the right exercise for you.

I tried running a few times and, to my disappointment, I hated it so much I felt like kicking the heads off flowers.

Eventually, after some patchy gym attendance, a few stabs at yoga and discovering pilates, I went back to my childhood love of dance, and never looked back.

I haven’t found any regular dance classes in Salisbury yet, but that's next on my list. The other challenge I have set myself is to learn some new things.

To start I decided to memorise the capitals of all the South American countries (not Africa - too many; maybe next year).

There are only 13 in South America and therefore it was an achievable goal.

So next time on Pointless, when the challenge is ‘Name a capital city starting with P’, I will be able to state confidently ‘Paramaribo’, and will be thrilled when Richard says, ‘And very well done if you got that at home’.

It’s all about the simple pleasures…