17, 21 and 11.... Lolita, Joan Collins and Brittany

NUMBER 17 – still in deliberation

I initially had thought about The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, as I have read it before and thoroughly enjoyed its luscious and evocative descriptions of life in the 1920s, an era to which I am always drawn for some unknown reason. As I have read it before, I think I am going to branch out a little and read Lolita by Vladimir Nobokov. My friend Babs recommended it, so I am going to give it a go.

NUMBER 21 – almost there

I am about a half of the way through Series 8 with the whole of Series 9 to go! I have to admit – its tough going, but I will persist. Dynasty of course is a camp classic in many ways – the bitch fights, the nails, the glamour, the hair, the shoulder pads and Joan Collins – but I guess for me, aside from that appeal, one of the reasons I have enjoyed watching all of the series up to this point is that it reminds me of being young and sitting down with my mam to watch it from time to time. She commented one time on how Joan Collins was my favourite and in fact once or twice would call me in from playing on the street to tell me it was on. Happy days…. I will update of course when I am all the way there with this one. Its not quite ticked off yet. 

NUMBER 11 - imminent departure

heading off on Saturday, to Rennes, in Brittany in France - my place abroad I have never been before. very much looking forward to a week away with Colin and a group of his friends, so it should be fun. I will of course post further details in due course, when it is ready to tick off... 

Coming soon: 

Number 10 and a poor effort on number 35. Sigh.... 

Status so far....

1. Ok - so this is where I am so far.... I have reported on a few of these below, more to follow... promise. 
   
   
   
   
   1.     Buy and drink very expensive (>£80 per bottle) wine (with my sister, Noelle)
   2.     Cook something I've never cooked before
   3.     Eat something I've never eaten before
   4.     Eat something I've never eaten before - and won't eat again
   5.     Go to the top of the Shard
   6.     Meet Nigella Lawson
   7.     Meet someone (else) famous
   8.     Meet an International Sports star
   9.     Do some kind of cooking course
   10. Go somewhere in the UK I've never been before
   11. Go somewhere abroad I've never been before
   12. Get my teeth whitened
   13. Have a mani-pedi
   14. Go (back) to Chez Bruce
   15. Apply for my driving license
   16. Learn to drive
   17. Read a modern classic
   18. Read a classic
   19. Take a photography course
   20. Run a race - minimum 10k
   21. Complete my series of Dynasty
   22. Play tennis again
   23. Lose a stone (in weight, not out of my pocket)
   24. Blog?
   25. Go back to Poros
   26. Plan my 40th birthday
   27. Take swimming lessons
   28. Don't change my job
   29. Bake more bread
   30. Meet a relative I haven't met before
   31. Go to Wimbledon for tennis
   32. Do something for charity
   33. Decide what's my 'Pine Cone' - and tell everyone.
   34. Have a 'Gone with the wind' viewing
   35. Go to the National Portrait Gallery every weekend out of three.
   36. Put 'more' of my photos online
   37. Learn to knit
   38. Go to Walsh Island again
   39. Visit Josephine Baker (the cat)
   40. TBD by suggestions by people here

Numbers 15, 18 and a sad update on Number 39

NUMBER 15 – DONE

Yes, it’s true. Almost 40 years old and I can’t drive. Ridiculous, isn’t it? I can make all the excuses I want, but I suppose behind it all is a certain amount of laziness and stubbornness. I’m not a very good pupil as many of you will know and patience certainly not being one of my virtues and as a result, I have never learned to drive. I also think I am scarred by a childhood incident where, while sitting on my mothers lap, I turned off the lights of our car, plunging us into darkness on a fairly rural road and nearly plunging most of my family into the ditch. I was reminded about that on a regular basis as a child. Anyway, having it put on this list has meant that my stubbornness is working to my advantage this time and forced me to actually apply for my license. I am very pleased to say that I have it in my possession and so now just need to actually take some lessons and learn to drive so I can tick off number 16! No one minds if you drive while on Valium, do they? I mean its not as if I would be drunk….

NUMBER 18 – DONE

I deliberated long and hard about what classic I should read and eventually settled for The Picture of Dorian Gray by the great Irish author Oscar Wilde. I suppose it could verge on a modern classic, having been published in 1890, my initial thoughts being with some Jane Austen, having been (un)fortunate enough to skip those in school. I was also helped in my choice by the fact that it was the only classic that I had on my bookshelf and came to being there courtesy of Belinda and Chris Adams (and indeed Sophie Cotton…ahem). Belinda and Chris had a book for everyone on the table at their wedding and clearly not happy with my choice of much ado about nothing, I decided I would procure Sophie’s version of Dorian Gray as well. Read it I did, expecting it to be a little tedious if truth be told, but in fact it tripped along nicely with the flowery language I would expect of such a dandy of the time. In particular I found the last section immensely riveting – one of those times where you don’t actually want the tube to stop so you can keep on reading. The parts where you can almost feel the chaos going around in Dorian’s head when he is at the absolute end of his tether with how he has been living his life were dark, gripping and yet prompted a certain amount of sympathy for this man who had lived such a hideously decadent and irresponsible existence until that point. A fine read indeed and am very glad to have chosen this as my classic book to read. Snaps for Mr. Wilde. 

NUMBER 39 – a sad note to report

Some of you may remember my gorgeous cat Josephine Baker whom I fostered for a couple of years (about 2005 – 2007). She was a real character, nervous around people (which she showed through stress incontinence), she didn’t like to be alone (again, stress incontinence) but at the same time was so much fun. I had to give her away as I was traveling too much at the time and so I gave her back to her daddy Rickey-Dean. I missed her quite a lot and have been saying that I should go see her again and so stuck it on the list. Unfortunately, she had to go to the big litter tray in the sky on the 11^th of April this year, so I didn’t get to see her again.  She was in her glamorous middle age when I had her and bless her, she lived to the ripe old age of 17 years, 1 month and 11 days old. In place of seeing her, I am going to make a donation to a cat shelter in her memory and hopefully will see lots of cats do well. She wouldn’t have been pleased about that of course  - she didn’t really like other cats… 

Hello? Hello? Any viewers left? Updates on the way....

Well, I’m not managing this blog business very well am I? It has been proving a lot harder than I thought. Ok, well, not so much hard as many other things have distracted me… do you know how much telly there is to watch? How much laundry there is to do, especially when you should be doing something like this. Its like magic I tell you… it builds up and up and up. Ok, I will ‘fess up - I have also been distracted by landing myself a rather gorgeous boyfriend (Colin is the lucky man’s name….), since the start of the year.

(Oh, and in case you had forgotten my list - see here....)

Anyway, I digress. See? I have the attention span of a gnat.

So I KNOW you have all been dying to find out where I am on my list. Well, I am very pleased to tell you that I have in fact made quite good progress. In the words of my good friend Julie Andrews/Maria von Trapp (the Disney version, not the evil old Austrian version), lets start at the very beginning (and work our way down).

NUMBER 5 - DONE

A few weeks back, you might have seen that I made the top of the shard with my best friend Willie. It was his 35^th birthday and so as a reward for reaching that milestone (and not looking at day over 38) I took him up the Shard. All in all, it was a cracking day out. We started off at the bottom - as you do for these kinds of things - and then made our way around the bottom 'til we got in the first of two lifts before eventually emerging on the 68^th floor – the viewing platform. Perhaps not a well-known fact, but I am terrified of heights and I thought this was all fine. No problems with being this high up – its all covered in, no open spaces at all. Great views were aided by smashing weather – at least in our immediate vicinity. We could see all the way over to some wind turbines somewhere outside of London. I think it could have been Holland…not so sure. One of the best things to see was the fact that the weather wasn’t so great all around London and we were able to see areas that were having rain showers across London.  After our 360 degree circuit, we moved from the 68^th floor up to the 72^nd floor and this is when my fear of heights kicked in. This was exposed and even though completely safe with glass all around us, I had to shuffle and hold on to the side or railings whenever I could. Well, I mean you don’t know when a gust of wind is going to come in and whisk you away do you?? Ask Dorothy!!! Nonetheless, we did our circuit here too (shuffling as I went) and got some great pictures, which you can see below. After ticking off number 5, Wills and I went to have some celebratory cocktails. Just the one or two. Number 5 done and well worth it.

NUMBER 14 - DONE

I have indeed made it back to Chez Bruce, courtesy of my gorgeous friend Sian and alongside the aforementioned Willie. Drinking/Eating/Willie (see a pattern here….and DO NOT EVEN dare be rude about that).  We went back to celebrate Sian’s birthday and have to say, had a lot of fun. As well as ticking number 14 off my list, I also very closely managed to have my death row dinner. You know, the dinner you would have if you were going to the gallows in the morning? Well, mine would be Foie Gras of some kind (apologies to all the vegans out there…but who wouldn’t like to be force fed every day?) followed by a very bloody steak and chips with béarnaise sauce, accompanied by a juicy red wine. Dessert would comprise a crème brulee. Slurp. So in actual fact, what I did have at Chez Bruce was foie gras with brioche and onion relish to start. This was followed by a cote de boeuf that I shared with Willie. Accompanied by triple fried chips and béarnaise sauce, I was in heaven. The meat was like butter and extremely tasty. Not even the 4 very large, very strong gin and tonics could have dulled that taste. Yum, yum, yum. For dessert, there was a crème brulee on the menu, but I decided not to tempt fate and desisted. I did have a very well balanced chocolate and salted caramel tart and actually had most of Willie’s and Sian’s desserts (Brownie and ice cream) too as they were not terribly keen on theirs. Oink, oink, I hear you cry and yes, guilty as charged… I had one of my two best meals in London at Chez Bruce, back some time ago, which is why I wanted to go back. However nice this was, with fab company it didn’t quite live up to the last time time.  I suppose I should ask myself if I was setting my expectations too high??

Gearing up...gearing up...

A few people have been enquiring about when the next post is going to be on here? Well, here it is and I am going to commit to at least one post a week. At this stage though, while I haven't made much progress on actually clocking off any more of the list, I have been getting a lot of things in order to do just that. For example, my bread making equipement has arrived and is waiting for me when I get back to the UK (I'm in Ireland at the moment - more of that later). I did a short bread baking course with Maria's baking lab this time last year and loved it - I did a lovely white loaf and rolls - and am planning to use this experience to fulfil #29. Carb-heaven ahoy....

As more progress or lack thereof goes, this time last week, I foolishly missed the chance to hit #7 AND #8 all in one. that's meeting someone famous and an international sports star, for those who arent as up to speed as I am in the numbers. Despite the best efforts of Tinni, Amanda, Debra and PD, I chickened out of a chance to meet Danny Cipriani and Kelly Brook when they were out on a night out at Disco Bistro. He is very handsome indeed but even more so, she was absolutely gorgeous. Great hair - might even have a rival for Beyonce hair. Anyway, grow a pair, Brendan, grow a pair. I will never tick these few off my list until I do find some balls. Either that or I am drunk.

As well as the bread making gear, also on its way is the DVD of 'Gone With the Wind' (#34), for my viewing. Anyone who wants to come along to this, please let me know... Speaking of Gone With the Wind and Tara, I am currently staying at my own version of Tara, 16 Blackrock Park and have been finding lots of pictures of my family, my relations and Dad's Tara, Walsh Island (#38). Walsh Island, Co. Offaly is where my Dad grew up and spent many a happy day. It was as beloved to him as Blackrock Park is to me and I am sure as Tara was to Scarlett. I'm spending my last few days in Blackrock Park as its going up for sale and this along with my Dad's passing last year has made me think a bit more about my Dad's homeland and where he came from. I haven't been back to Walsh Island in at least 10 years, but its an important place to my family and so am hoping to make it back this year at some point to check it out and see again where he came from. 

Ok, back to viewing another 1939 film, The Wizard Of Oz, in front of the fire in Blackrock Park with a wet and grey day outside. Bliss, pure bliss...

So - the list is here...

Ok - so here it is, "The List". Not Schindler's, coz that would be just wrong and I am clearly not that much of a hero. I have spent the past month or so thinking about these things to do before I hit my milestone birthday next year and I have gone back and forth and back again and finally decided all the below. I've tried to make them as realistic and achievable as possible - Kirsty Mallows and her lessons on SMART objectives have clearly stood me in good stead - and focussed on a mixture of things that I have been meaning to do, things I would like to do and a couple of things that I don't really want to do have crept in here and one or two may not even be possible. I issue a caveat that this is not definitive. I exercise my right to veto two items throughout the year. In return for your indulgence, I offer you all the chance to suggest the last and final thing that I do. Suggestions gratefully received and considered. I appoint my sister Noelle as my co-judge. We are like Simon and Danni reunited. I won't say who is who...

I have 364 days to go, 39 things to do (I'm now blogging) of 1 I have no idea what.

Let the fun begin!!!

1. 1.     Buy and drink very expensive (>£80 per bottle) wine (with my sister, Noelle)
   2.     Cook something I've never cooked before
   3.     Eat something I've never eaten before
   4.     Eat something I've never eaten before - and won't eat again
   5.     Go to the top of the Shard
   6.     Meet Nigella Lawson
   7.     Meet someone (else) famous
   8.     Meet an international sports star
   9.     Do some kind of cooking course
   10. Go somewhere in the UK I've never been before
   11. Go somewhere abroad I've never been before
   12. Get my teeth whitened
   13. Have a mani-pedi
   14. Go (back) to Chez Bruce
   15. Apply for my driving license
   16. Learn to drive
   17. Read a modern classic
   18. Read a classic
   19. Take a photography course
   20. Run a race - minimum 10k
   21. Complete my series of Dynasty
   22. Play tennis again
   23. Lose a stone (in weight, not out of my pocket)
   24. Blog?
   25. Go back to Poros
   26. Plan my 40th birthday
   27. Take swimming lessons
   28. Don't change my job
   29. Bake more bread
   30. Meet a relative I haven't met before
   31. Go to Wimbledon for tennis
   32. Do something for charity
   33. Decide what's my 'Pine Cone' - and tell everyone.
   34. Have a 'Gone with the wind' viewing
   35. Go to the National Portrait Gallery every weekend out of three.
   36. Put 'more' of my photos online
   37. Learn to knit
   38. Go to Walsh Island again
   39. Visit Josephine Baker (the cat)
   40. TBD by suggestions by people here

OOOO - so I've done it. I don't have my list to hand just now but with less than 24 hours to go before I enter my fortieth year, I think I might just have ticked off one of the items on my list.

Granted, it has a question mark after it. That's simply because I am not sure if I am the type of person to blog enough to warrant the 'blogger' moniker - though I will try my damned hardest to give it a serious go. I have so many friends who do an amazing job of doing outstanding blogs (Amanda - she knows, Katie - bitch can cook, and John - the mad dog) that I bow in reverence. I hope I can learn from them and their ways. Please be patient with me and walk with me over this next year. I have no idea where my completely random list is going to take me and as a result, I am looking forward to the ride... I hope you are too.