A good friend asked me a while ago: don’t you ever just sit down and do nothing?

I don’t. I made a promise to myself years ago not to waste time. That’s not to say I won’t sit on the sofa and watch as many episodes of MasterChef as I can before bedtime. I take care of myself – when I need to do little and unwind, I do. I don’t consider that to be a waste of time at all.

But I am also asked why I do so much at weekends, given my busy job.

I do so much at weekends, because there is so much to do and see. I volunteer on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, I am an Eyes On, Hands On volunteer for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. I am treasurer for Hull Independent Cinema. I walk. I run. There’s always an art gallery or museum with something to see. I am a part-time student.

I realise this is one long brag. It is not my intention, but my goodness, I take stock from time to time in order to fulfil a promise. I do so much, because I can, and because too many people I have loved have not had the health or longevity to do so. I went to University, I did a language degree – it was only the start of my curiosity. I grew up in a family that valued education and experience, and prioritised these (thank you).

Warum nicht? An excellent question, asked by a ticket seller at Frankfurt Airport railway station. I’d like a single ticket to Heidelberg, please. Why not?

Why not? Go, see, do. Along the way, remember the golden rule: Be Excellent To Each Other, or at the very least, Don’t Be A Dick. Give yourself permission; don’t spend the housekeeping but everything else is fair game. Go, see, do.

Write good stuff up on TripAdvisor or Reddit. Don’t bother complaining that the hotel didn’t have a lift and that’s why you’ve given it 5/10. Stop doing TikToks in the middle of the Champs Elysées.

But do go and sit for a while in the Place des Vosges, or sit on the steps of the Sacre Couer and watch families, artists, pickpockets and the world. See Lake Geneva (swim in Lake Geneva!), go to the Queen Studio experience in Montreux and say thanks to Freddie and his mates. Do a walking tour on a map of a place that’s new to you. Take a train over the Alps or the Dolomites. See an underground hospital in Budapest. Go around the underground tunnels of Naples, and step into an ancient Roman theatre under someone’s living room. See Pompeii and Herculaneum. Do a perambulatory theatre tour, lead by a retired gladiator in Trier. Stand in Karl Marx’s and Friedrich Engel’s living rooms in Wuppertal, and take the world’s only hanging monorail to get there.

That’s why I promised I wouldn’t waste time. There is so much to see and do.

This weekend is Birmingham Friday night, a day in Cardiff and its huge art collection, then Sunday in Bath and another art collection. There will be friends, there will be art, there will be experiences. I will dust away some cynicism for a brief time. I will still think about the hospital. I will have a grateful heart that I get to do so much.