As I sit on my fluffy, white couch that is totally impractical, watching the cheese of all cheese, Under the Tuscan Sun, I cannot help but be drawn in to its romantic sensibilities. And not sensibilities about love, but about living the simple life. The beauty, the browns and tans, the mess, and the climbing vines that is the simple life, far removed from any life I know.

Ever since seeing Stealing Beauty ( a real film about life in Italy), I have wanted to live some part of a life in a villa in Tuscany, where I spend my days soaking up the sun whilst reading and writing in journals, under the shade of a tree. Romantic, idealistic, dreamy..yes. Dream I will, you never know where life may take you.

I may not work in the business world, but my life is very busy. My life is surrounded by noise, traffic, cranky humans and things that kill the environment. I long for something more simple. My latest obsession is bicycles. I feel disgraced by how much petrol I use each week, by how much exhaust I pump into the air, by how much traffic I create. I pretty much want to get rid of the car and live in a village where I only ever need to ride a bicycle. The bicycle of course would need a basket big enough to hold a french stick.

I don’t know how to solve this problem as I need a car to get to my job, at this point. There is no way around it. A change is coming for us next year. It won’t be Tuscany, but perhaps with this change, I can include a bicycle in my life. On this, the eve of my 32nd birthday, I shall hope for a little simplicity in the coming year.