Past the deadline!

So, the dreaded four-oh has passed. I have to admit now that some of the targets on my list might have been a teeny bit ambitious. Had I all the resources of say, Victoria Beckham, I could indeed have spent the last six years travelling to the Galapagos, Antarctica, Borneo, Madagascar etc. Or if Sir David Attenborough had spotted my talents as a budding presenter perhaps from, I don’t know, my tweets about bats and puffins I’d have enjoyed travelling the world as a roving wildlife spotter. As it is, I’ve not made a bad stab of it and there’s nothing to say that some of these exciting goals can’t be rolled over to the next decade or so.

In the meantime, here are a couple I managed this year, which still count at a push:

4.       Buy a piano/keyboard üAchieved in my fortieth year, hurray!

Thanks to all the lovely family members who helped chip in to help me buy my lovely Yamaha keyboard. It’s got weighted keys and pedals and headphones so my neighbours don’t have to be subjected to my stumbling practice.

Considering I only really have two rooms in my tiny flat, I’m pretty pleased that I managed to squeeze my life-long dream of ‘a piano in a library’ into it. (Library, in this case, means ‘about six shelves’. But they are heavy laden. In fact, one collapsed the other day and had to be propped up by a hefty pile of Dickens. Anyway, I digress.)

One of the most exciting things was when the delivery guy buzzed to say ‘parcel for you’. I descended to find a box than was twice my weight and almost my height sitting on the pavement.

‘Urm, can you give me a hand with this to the third floor please?’

‘No can do. Sorry.’

I contemplated setting up the piano with a busking hat outside to make my fortune. In the end owe a huge debt of thanks to my friend for struggling with the hefty thing up to my top floor flat. It’s now been beautifully inserted between the cheese plant and the step-ladder displaying the drama section of my book collection (sorry, library), as if it were designed that way.

There’s nothing nicer than tinkling away a stressful day, massacring a few David Bowie songs or playing Debussy and Chopin in the way that they definitely wouldn’t have intended. Practice needed …

27.   Ski in at least 3 more countries/regions

I’d like to say a big thank you to Elsie for helping me to achieve the final in my third of three, very different, ski experiences. The weekend before my fortieth, we stayed over-night in a cosy lodge and stocked up on a big breakfast in preparation for a ski up and down a Munroe. We really were exceptionally fortunate with the weather. It was cold (of course) but with incredible blue skies and although a bit too windy at the top to want to linger over the ‘conquered it’ shot, definitely not so cold as to wonder whether your toes have actually fallen off.

My previous attempt at ski touring saw me crying all the way up and rolling all the way back down before kissing the ground Pope style in gratitude for my safe return. This time I was so excited by stomping along with the skis on my back, crossing a stream in proper Famous Five style and chatting to really interesting and inspiring people as I tromped my way up that I was barely aware of the miles sliding under my skies. Skiing uphill will always be weird, but I can definitely appreciate the joy of not having to fight the crowds on the piste. We even saw mountain hares.

A top end to my thirties.

The actual last day of my thirties was, as an aside, spent up to my eyeballs in snow thanks to the Beast from the East. At least I won’t forget it in a hurry.

7.       Get a rabbit

I inherited a cat. Does that count? 

The list hasn’t ended, just paused. For all the many, many people who have helped me get so far: thank you. I really couldn’t have done it without you.

Here’s to the next decade of fun!