Recently, I was wondering about a blogger friend Pepsi. I wondered where she had got to, and she has since made contact (glad you're ok!)
While I was checking her profile, to see if somehow magically she had started a blog, or linked to anything at all, there was a link to another blog. I went and looked at that blog and saw a wonderful list.
I do like a list.
So I have shamelessly stolen it, but will of course credit the person it came from.
I couldn't be bothered tailoring it to my own specific world, so just went through his list and commented. Interesting, we have some similar desires, and some very different ones (mainly to do with sport, and that would probably be because he is a male.)
My version of the list:
100 THINGS
1. See the Pyramids and climb inside one
Been to, haven’t been inside. Rode horses around.
2. Climb to Macchu Pichu
Haven’t done, would like to.
3. Go to Istanbul and have tea & haggle with a carpet seller
Have done, but I married the carpet seller.
4. Walk from Coast to Coast - St Bee’s to Robin Hood Bay (190 miles)
If that’s in England, and I think it is, I would very much like to do a walking tour of England.
5. Walk part of the Camino de Santiago
Not sure where this is. Brazil?
6. Write a story & have it published
Yes, this is a serious dream.
7. Have a photo I took published in a book or magazine
Nup, don’t care about this one.
8. Learn to paint/draw
I can draw, and I am a fierce doodler. Would like to paint, don’t need to “learn.” I’m a natural.
9. Learn to play an instrument – piano/guitar/bass/violin (haven’t picked one yet)
Nup, don’t really care about this.
10. Spend a year working for a charity in a third world country
YES WOULD LOVE TO AND DO INTEND TO
11. Run a small pub that has live bands
No way, would hate it. Am already deaf, drink too much and now I don't smoke, I don't want to stink of other people's smoke. On a regular basis.
12. Cruise along the Nile
Wanted to, got there, didn’t do. Disappointed? Not much.
13. Take a trip on the Orient Express
Kind of did this, but it was in economy class where there were Africans under the seats. I mean it! Coming up in diaries in 1990. If I weren’t planning to stop on Dec 31 1989.
14. Go for a balloon ride over Cappadocia
Will never ever go on a balloon ride. Not for a million bucks. But been to Cappadocia about three times.
15. Attend a dawn service at Gallipoli (I've been to Gallipoli and stood on the pebbly beach of Anzac Cove in the pouring rain, but I'd like to go back for a dawn service)
Was there in 1990 at the 75th anniversary dawn service. Shook Bob Hawke and Hazel’s hands and cried copiously over the old soldiers.
16. Go to the South Pole
Let me think. Nup, not interested.
17. Learn to pull a pint – properly
Not interested. That’s a bit of a boy thing I think.
18. Walk the streets of London
Done that.
19. Take the Trans-Siberian railway
Ooooh, I would like to do this. There’s no writer better than Paul Theroux to whet your appetite for rail travel. Riding the Iron rooster – one of the best books I’ve read. My brother’s stories of doing the Trans-Siberian are excellent as well.
20. Brew a batch of Scotch that tastes good
No would rather buy it. But making limoncello isn’t that hard.
21. Elope
Kind of done that. It’s not fun at all.
22. Get lost in the British Museum
Been there. Didn’t get lost.
23. Go on a dig
I’d like to go on a dig but only if it’s in Egypt and Hercules Poirot is there in a white safari suit.
24. Learn Spanish
Not interested in Spanish. Don’t want to learn any other languages. I’ve done my dash.
25. Go to Stonehenge
Used to think I wanted to do this, but there are other things higher on the travel list than this one.
26. Keep a close friendship for 20 years or longer
Done this one.
27. Learn to belly dance
Done this one too.
28. Have my portrait painted
That would be nice, but I really don’t think it would ever happen, and if it did, it would have to be a commission. Somehow, it aint gonna happen. Even if I had the bucks, it would reek of huge ego and I would find that déclassé.
29. Be the most important person in someone’s life, even if it’s for a short time
Easy, hands down, that has happened.
30. Kiss the Blarney Stone
Not interested in that.
31. Walk across the Giants Causeway
Don’t know where that is.
32. See the sun rise from Mount Sinai
Done that, slept up there and saw the old sun rise.
33. Spend a winter in the Highlands of Scotland or on one of the Orkney Islands
Ooooh, I’d like that.
34. Go to Jerusalem
Done. It was everything I imagined it would be. Simply wonderful.
35. Take singing lessons
Not interested.
36. Learn to recite Yeats
I can recite a bit of Keats.
37. Visit the Andes
Not interested.
38. See the Himalayas
Not interested. Not a mountainy person.
39. Go to Easter Island and see the statues (I've seen one in Chile but havent been to Eater Island yet.)
Not really interested in this.
40. Fly over the Nasca Lines in a small plane pretending to be aliens
Don’t even know where this is.
41. Go on Safari
Oh yes please! And have Clokes wash my hair over a basin.
42. Watched a meteor shower
That would be cool but not necessary. I saw Halley’s Comet though. I think.
43. Learn to make my own earrings
Not interested.
44. Venture into the jungle to see Mayan and Aztec ruins in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize
Pffft.
45. Go to Rome
Done, and yes it was good.
46. Spend some time in a concentration camp
I would like to visit a concentration camp but not a for real one, as an inmate.
47. Milk a cow
Done.
48. Ride a camel into a desert
Ridden a camel on the edge of a desert (Jerusalem.)
49. Make someones wedding cake
Why?
50. See the Pope (JP II)
Too late now.
51. Take a gondola ride in Venice
Done. It was the best.
52. Go to China & see the Statue Army and Great Wall
Been to China but just Guangzhou. It was ok. In 1982 there wasn’t a lot you could do.
53. Say ‘I love you’ and really mean it - unconditionally, with all my being
Done. Many many times. To my daughter.
54. Get a tattoo
Not my thing, but I do like them on men.
55. Followed my favorite band on tour
Not my thing.
56. Live on a canal boat for a month
That I could do. Couldn’t do a big boat on a big water, or a small boat on a big water. I think I could do a small or big boat on a small water (a canal is about as big as I’d want to get. I could do a lake probably, and a river.)
57. Fly over an active volcano
Nope, but I’ve climbed up an active volcano. Two actually. It was good. One in Bali. The other in Java.
58. Attend an Olympics
Absolutely no interest. I don’t even want to watch them on the tv.
59. Take a trip down the Amazon
Don’t think I’d really go for this one.
60. Make a short film (been the subject of one, but haven’t made one yet)
No interest.
61. Take a pilgrimage to Lourdes
No interest.
62. Get a masters degree before I’m thirty
I’ve got one but it was well after 30.
63. Visit the big galleries of the world – Musee du Lourve in Paris, The Prado in Madrid, Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Museum of Modern Art in New York, Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Egyptian Museum in Cairo, The Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, Musee d’Orsay in Paris, Tate Modern/Britain in London, The Kunsthistoisches Museum in Vienna, The Vatican Museums in Rome
Done 4 of these. I really do want to go to Spain.
64. See an Ashes Test at Lords (been there, seen the urn, stood on the balcony, supped in the long room but not seen an Ashes test there yet)?
So not interested.
65. Pick up and move to another city knowing no one, just to start over
Done that. Japan. But it wasn't to start over, not really. As an economic refugee during the early '90s.
66. Walk through the ruins of Pompeii
Done it. Fantastic.
67. Visited all 7 continents in the world (Australia, Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South American, Antarctica)
I don’t need to go to each continent. The only one I haven’t seen properly is Africa (Egypt doesn’t count in my mind.)
68. Swim in all 5 oceans of the world (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern, Arctic)
Don’t care.
69. See the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)
Don’t care.
70. Float in the Dead Sea
Done. It was ok.
71. Be invited to join a Board of Directors of a company
Couldn’t think of anything worse.
72. Spend more than a week in Paris
Done this. It was ok.
73. Visit Buckingham Palace & stand on the garden party lawn and have tea
I would like to do this. Not sure how one goes about it.
74. Make paper
Not interested in this one. Not at all.
75. Walk on a beach watching the sun rise, having not been to bed yet.
Done this I think. Can’t remember.
76. Catch a fish, cook it straight away and eat it
Done this. With help.
77. Live in a quaint little village
I would really like to do this. Like a Milly-Molly-Mandy village. Or somewhere in Italia.
78. Own a bookstore and run it the way I imagined
OH YES PLEASE
79. Own a house with an attic, a long kitchen, a library room and a magic walled garden
DOUBLE YES PLEASE
80. Learn how to build my own webpage
Done that a while ago. It was hard and not fun and not useful.
81. See a ghost
I really would like to see a ghost. Not sure why, but I would love it.
82. Make a difference in someone’s life
I have.
83. Be content within myself
I'm doing alright on this one.
84. Walked in the rain
Easy, done it heaps. One of the memorable times was strolling up to the Acropolis in Athens in the rain. I cried. On my own. And I didn't care.
85. Study at Oxford or Cambridge
Yes I would like to do this, a writing course with an esteemed teacher.
86. Visit Shakespeare’s birthplace
Done this.
87. Make someone cry of happiness
Not sure about this one. Not sure I want to. Too much emotion.
88. See a play at The Globe (been there a few times but not seen a play yet)
Nope.
89. Raise a child
Yep, tick.
90. See Petra
Yep would like to.
91. Go to Glastonbury Music Festival
Nope, not interested.
92. Drive across America
I would like to do this.
93. Have hair down to my bottom – once
I think that’s a bit too long and wouldn’t be as nice as you think.
94. Do my family tree
Too hard and time consuming.
95. Own a new car
Done that, but it wouldn't be on my Top 100 list. Who cares?
96. Read the books of Charles Dickens from start to finish
Yeah, that would be good. Easy to achieve.
97. Travel around the Lakes District
Would love to do that.
98. Watch my nephew play guitar on one of the big stages of the world
I guess so but it won’t cut me up if it doesn’t happen. Unlikely I have to say.
99. Go to a Rugby Union World Cup final with the Wallabies
Oh my god. Care factor zero.
100. Live with no regrets
Impossible or not?
Stolen from http://youngnedofthehill.blogspot.com/ via Pepsi. Blame her.
2 comments:
"50. See the Pope (JP II)
Too late now."
This gets you my "I saw the Pope once" story.
My stepbrother and I toured Europe in 1992. Loved.Every.Minute.
In Rome, we did the usual tourist thing and went to St Peter's and the Vatican. We were searched on entering St Peter's - couldn't work out why, but the Swiss Guard went bananas when he saw my Swiss Army Knife and told us to get rid of it. Hell, we were backpackers - of course we had one! Anyway, we went away, hid it at the bottom of my bro's bag (it had been in my jeans pocket), and had another go at getting in.
We got in. It was beautiful. And huge. and there was a service going on in the middle, which we tried to creep quietly around and didn't look too closely at. But eventually, we reached it, and were kind of walking around the roped area, when THE POPE WALKED PAST US!
I said "Quick, get your camera, it's the Pope!" and sure enough, just as he passed us, people started crawling all over each other and climbing out of their seats to get closer to him. It was a little freaky.
Anyway, bro snapped a few shots and then he was gone. He did look terribly frail and old though - he'd just had something done to his belly I think. And despite looking so awful, he lasted another 15 years after that!! (I think)
I spoke to one of the people there afterwards, and he told me it was an award ceremony. He proudly showed me his medal - Order of St Michael or somesuch. I pretended to be impressed, but really it didn't really make an impact on me as I'm an atheist, and was never catholic anyway. Ironic that I love churches, but can't believe in god. :P
So that's my "I saw the Pope" story. If I'd wanted to, I could have reached out and touched him. Which explains the crazy security.
Wow, that's kind of cool. The thing that happened to his stomach? It wasn't a crazy Turk with a gun, was it? Who shot him and languishes now in a jail somewhere?
I'll tell you my JPII story. We were in the Vatican city two years ago. They'd just gotten Ratzinger in. We were in the souvenir shops, and me - fully atheist - I am partial to the religious icons and beads and stuff. Except the little rosary I wanted to buy, which had a disc in the middle with a picture of the new pope on it, only featured the new pope. Of course, all the others would have been "removed." Stupid me, before my (non-devout) Catholica, Italiano husband could stoppa me, went to the counter and asked the saleslady "if they had any with the old pope on them."
She just looked at me like I was the devil himself.
And maybe I am.
Post a Comment