Ashes week...

It's going to be an odd week...

...pretending to give a flying one about everyone's tales of woe (and, by half past Monday, on a good week, I've had more than enough of these for several lifetimes, in any case) when the Ashes start on Wednesday. So, what else is there? The desktop countdown widget says 2 days, 16 hours, 27 mins, and 57 secs. The ECB calendars have been installed (Outlook (bah – work pc), Evolution and Thunderbird. DAB radios will be charged up and ready to go, and the laptop with the large screen will be permanently on the Sky Sports feed.

Australians being Australians, they're insisting on starting the games at ridiculous hours. Who in their right mind kicks off a test match at midnight? Anything to get at us Poms, that's what it is. They may blather on about time differences and suchlike, but there's floodlights now, so it's just anything to inconvenience us, that's their mentality.

So, you may talk to me, and you may hear me respond and even possibly make some sense, but while your mind might be on your leaking roof or peeling wallpaper, mine's on the battle to get Prior's calf injury sorted out in time for Wednesday, the finalised bowling attack, and Cook winning the toss, batting first, and getting the series off to a start that puts the blighters in their place.

Five ways to wellbeing

Apparently there's empirical evidence that these work:

1. Connect...with the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.
2. Be active...go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance. Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical activity you enjoy and one that suits your level of mobility and fitness.
3. Take notice...be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.
4. Keep learning...try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.
5. Give...do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

Here's mine:

1. Sever connections, burn bridges, get shot of the baggage. Connect selectively. Good friends and family worth the time and effort will seldom, if ever, hack you off. The minute this isn't the case, consign them to the bin and move on. Work colleagues? The minute they stop watching your back and start looking like stabbing it, keep them at arm's + bargepole length. In fact, that work / life balance thing? Work's work and life's life and never the twain shall meet.
2. Be active. Great advice about what works for you. Dancing does not work for me, nor for a lot of males, and schools that offer salsa and no cricket during formal sports lessons need to take note. Gardening is for batty old women with secateurs.
3. Take notice of the beautiful, and also note the number of people determined to ruin it. Foxes and badgers are beautiful. People on horses in red coats, and people in general, 'aint.
4. Keep learning, but remember that there's more to learning than signing up to sit in a classroom full of lonely retired pharmacists who spend their days pretending to be coppers. Classrooms are to be dreaded.
5. Give 'em nowt. Give an inch and they start to expect mile after mile. There is no time to spare anymore.