I recently decided I need to keep a to-do list of all the things to do before I leave England. And then I thought, why not be properly gen y and make everyone read that list?* So here it is - including some things I have done and some others that I may never actually get around to. But hopefully I'll be able to tick off most. Please add any suggestions, and more importantly please help me to do these things if it lies within your power!
1. Leave Cambridge once a month, either on a day trip or holiday. Technically this is my New Year's resolution although I'm undecided on whether I've managed to keep it. I only passed January if already being in Scotland at the beginning of the month counts, and I've only passed April if already being in Croatia counts (unless I skive off tomorrow and go to Newmarket or something equally grim). I'm going to say they do count otherwise I'm awful at this resolution and I'll just have to try harder for the next 17 months. My reasoning is that it's ok if I don't use the same trip for two different months - i.e I can use Croatia for April as long as I use a different trip for March. Decision justified.
2. Go punting - this will be happening on Wednesday 8th, weather permitting.
3. Learn to punt. Or at least try to learn. I have little faith that I'll actually be able to do it.
4. Swim in the Cam. (4b - not get mystery illness from swimming in the Cam. 4c - research carefully and avoid the nudist section of the Cam)
5. White Christmas (by going somewhere snowy rather than by staying in England and praying hard)
6. Build a snowman and make a snow angel.
7. Christmas in July
8. Gain admittance to as many colleges as possible without being questioned.
9. Go to a May Ball - probably too late this year but I might be able to sort it out for next year.
10. Scratch Requiem. If I can find one.
11. Go to the beach.
12. Go hiking (or strolling) in Scotland.
13. Have my first Guinness in Ireland (because now I'm so close it would be weird to have my first Guinness in England).
14. Follow the path of the Orient Express from Istanbul to Paris. It's ambitious but it's specific.
15. Visit 14 Montagu St London, near the British museum, where a dear friend left her bible when she was 19 years old - it was restored to her 30 years later by a German missionary and his wife. Good story.
16. See a footlights production.
17. Go to an opera.
18. Go to a ballet.
19. Go to a garden party.
20. Drink pimms by the river.
Add any suggestions for places to go, things to do and dares to try (bearing in kind I'm not all that daring). I'll try to get as many done as possible!
Aside - if you want to get a postcard from me, send me your address. Even if you just live up the road, I'm all about the postcards now.
*It has come to my attention that I am now treating what was going to be a blog as a series of whimsical lists. Apologies.
Monday, 29 April 2013
Friday, 19 April 2013
26
It's been a while since I did one of these, and I thought I'd better give it another shot. The idea for this particular one came when I bought peppercorns and realised I have no idea how to put them into the pepper grinder, and then connected with someone else's '21 things I learned while I was 21' blog (one of those blogs where someone comes across as high-achieving and motivated). This is not one of those, but perhaps it will make you feel better about yourself.
I consider myself fairly together as a person, but here are 26 things that I still can't do, aged 26:
1. Re-fill a pepper grinder (NB I know how to do this now because my housemate showed me - but how do you go 26 years without ever having to fill a pepper grinder?)
2. Change the oil in a car. This is a rich seam, actually, as I also can't change the water for the wipers or change the tyres or essentially do anything except put petrol in the tank, but it would be cheating to list absolutely everything I can't do with a car, except:
3. Reverse parallel park - I used to be able to but in the 7 years since I took my driving test, I have forgotten how.
4. Dive
5. Ski
6. Change the height of my bike seat (but please let me make this absolutely clear - my bike seat is currently the correct height and does not need to be changed)
7. Put darts in a dress that's too big for me
8. Tell the difference between section sewn and perfect bound books
9. Make a bed with hospital corners
10. Mow a lawn
11. Essentially, use any kind of power tool at all - is it because my mother once had an accident with a chainsaw? Or is it lack of interest? I guess we'll never know.
12. Breathe from, or with, my diaphragm when singing. Probably. How do you know if you're doing it? Is it from, or with?
13. Tell the difference between camembert and brie (I suspect there is none)
14. Use a coffee machine
15. Use a corkscrew (in all fairness I have used corkscrews several times throughout my life but I have to re-learn every time, screw caps meaning that I rarely get the practice)
16. Play 500
17. Translate pounds and ounces into kilograms and grams - this shouldn't be a problem but this stupid country is still using the old system
18. Cook fish
19. Understand the appeal of Wes Anderson
20. Play 'Dream a little dream of me' on the ukulele - and not for want of trying
21. Play tennis - absolutely for want of trying
22. Anything to do with finance - because it's essentially imaginary numbers, and I don't trust them
23. Anything with a spreadsheet beyond basic data entry
24. Spell 'commitment' or 'amendment' without serious consideration, potentially dictionary involvement (I had to look them up just then) (I looked them up again when I read through a second time)
25. Understand preferential voting - I completely believe that it's the best system, and I have no idea how it works
26. Put a huntsman spider under a jar, slide a piece of cardboard under the huntsman spider and release the huntsman spider into the wild. I tend to approach huntsman spiders with large boots and end their lives, because the idea that the huntsman spider might continue to live in and around my garden is unbearable and the idea of sliding a piece of cardboard under the huntsman spider so that it is the only thing between me and the huntsman spider is also unbearable. I know they're not poisonous but one should always take into account the fact that they are a) terrifying and b) named 'huntsman'.
I should add a number 27 to this list - because I also can't figure out a good way to end this post. So I'll just end it here, which is pretty much in keeping with the tone of the whole thing.
I consider myself fairly together as a person, but here are 26 things that I still can't do, aged 26:
1. Re-fill a pepper grinder (NB I know how to do this now because my housemate showed me - but how do you go 26 years without ever having to fill a pepper grinder?)
2. Change the oil in a car. This is a rich seam, actually, as I also can't change the water for the wipers or change the tyres or essentially do anything except put petrol in the tank, but it would be cheating to list absolutely everything I can't do with a car, except:
3. Reverse parallel park - I used to be able to but in the 7 years since I took my driving test, I have forgotten how.
4. Dive
5. Ski
6. Change the height of my bike seat (but please let me make this absolutely clear - my bike seat is currently the correct height and does not need to be changed)
7. Put darts in a dress that's too big for me
8. Tell the difference between section sewn and perfect bound books
9. Make a bed with hospital corners
10. Mow a lawn
11. Essentially, use any kind of power tool at all - is it because my mother once had an accident with a chainsaw? Or is it lack of interest? I guess we'll never know.
12. Breathe from, or with, my diaphragm when singing. Probably. How do you know if you're doing it? Is it from, or with?
13. Tell the difference between camembert and brie (I suspect there is none)
14. Use a coffee machine
15. Use a corkscrew (in all fairness I have used corkscrews several times throughout my life but I have to re-learn every time, screw caps meaning that I rarely get the practice)
16. Play 500
17. Translate pounds and ounces into kilograms and grams - this shouldn't be a problem but this stupid country is still using the old system
18. Cook fish
19. Understand the appeal of Wes Anderson
20. Play 'Dream a little dream of me' on the ukulele - and not for want of trying
21. Play tennis - absolutely for want of trying
22. Anything to do with finance - because it's essentially imaginary numbers, and I don't trust them
23. Anything with a spreadsheet beyond basic data entry
24. Spell 'commitment' or 'amendment' without serious consideration, potentially dictionary involvement (I had to look them up just then) (I looked them up again when I read through a second time)
25. Understand preferential voting - I completely believe that it's the best system, and I have no idea how it works
26. Put a huntsman spider under a jar, slide a piece of cardboard under the huntsman spider and release the huntsman spider into the wild. I tend to approach huntsman spiders with large boots and end their lives, because the idea that the huntsman spider might continue to live in and around my garden is unbearable and the idea of sliding a piece of cardboard under the huntsman spider so that it is the only thing between me and the huntsman spider is also unbearable. I know they're not poisonous but one should always take into account the fact that they are a) terrifying and b) named 'huntsman'.
I should add a number 27 to this list - because I also can't figure out a good way to end this post. So I'll just end it here, which is pretty much in keeping with the tone of the whole thing.
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