Saturday Rave: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend.

'These are my New Year's resolutions.

1. I will help the blind across the road.

2.I will hang up my trousers.'

And with steely determination and absolutely no sense at all of his own essential idiocy, Adrian Mole sets out to improve both himself and the world around him.

I can't help suspecting that if we were all like Adrian the world would be rather better, though probably an even weirder, place. 

In any case, if you want to laugh and laugh and laugh (all blessings on Sue Townsend!) then this is the place to come.

'6. I will be kind to the dog.

7. I will help the poor and ignorant.'

Word To Use Today: resolution. This word originally meant dissolving or dying, but happily those meanings have fallen into disuse. It comes from the Latin word resolvere, and the solvere bit means to loosen or dissolve.