It’s a brand new year.

In fact it’s a brand new decade.

But as much I love the idea of totally fresh starts, the truth is that there is no such thing!

No matter what we do, no matter how cleansed we think we are, we all carry baggage from our past which makes a completely fresh start simply impossible.

So after much deliberation and contemplation, I have concluded that the trick to life is not to reset and refresh at the end of every year but to share the lessons learnt from all that life throws at us with all and sundry.

Here’s what I’ve learnt so far and which I think you will find useful for years to come:

· Marilyn Monroe had 6 toes on one of her feet.

· ‘Dreamt’ is the only English word that ends in ‘mt’.

· You have mentally looked up words that end in ‘mt’ but did not find any.

· A snail can sleep for up to 3 years. Some politicians for 4.

· The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

· You can’t kill yourself by holding your breath.

· If Barbie were life-sized, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would be 7ft 2inches tall and have twice the length of a normal human.

· 36% of dog owners allow their dogs to sleep with them.

· The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.

· You have just mentally gone through the names of all the continents to check this fact.

· 1 in every 2000 babies is born with a tooth.

· In Bahrain a male gynaecologist can only examine a woman’s private parts through a mirror.

· China is the source of 70% of the world’s pirated goods.

· In 2009 the top 3 most read stories on this website were tragic.

· It takes humans an average of 7 minutes to fall asleep.

· Butterflies taste with their feet.

· 90% of New York’s cabbies are newly arrived migrants.

· Walt Disney was afraid of mice.

· 25% of women admit that money makes a man sexier.

· 99% of men admit that ‘a big pair’ makes a woman sexier.

· Apart from man, the rat is the world’s most destructive mammal.

· www.PMSbuddy.com is a free useful service to keep loved ones informed of your upcoming premenstrual syndrome.

· Donald Duck was banned from Finland because he’s not wearing any pants.

· In Chile, Fiji and Egypt you could get arrested for not voting.

· A 75 year old circus tortoise shortly escaped its ugly fate, only to be recaptured 6 days later to continue her miserable life in captivity.

· 3 tigers escaped from a circus caravan in south-western Mexico and recaptured a few hours later to spend the rest of their lives confined to a space smaller than a bathroom.

· A clown escaped from the Malta circus and is still at large. Evidence shows that he has been propagating his species without control.