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So I’am nearly Forty

I will be forty on October 19th 2011.

So I thought what should I be doing to make my fortieth a very different year – try new hobbies, eat different food, expand my mind and horizons , do some sport (please no), or even do something for charity – you get the idea.

But as I am too lazy why not have you my virtual friends to come up with some interesting stuff for me to do.

My normal life revolves around the following things if you need start from somewhere.

The idea of course is not a new one (what ideas are) kudos sould go to a friend of a friend – Mr Nick Thorpe, last year he did something new for every week of the year – not surprisingly he called it 52newthings and you see all this things he got up to at his lovely blog

I asked Nick for some advice before even thinking about how I could do something similar and he said.

Yes one big tip – DO IT. Best year of my life and changed my outlook on everything. Can’t recommend it enough.

Anyway I don’t think I can keep up with Nick (he has youth and good looks on his side) and to do 52 new things, it’s a big ask for a lazy bloke like me .. anyway here are some of my favourite things that he achieved during his year.

Week 38: 
Walk an alpaca. Yes…you read right. View

Week 32: 
Do something illegal, legally. View

Week 22: 
Visit two new countries in 24 hours. Say hello to Finland and Estonia. View

Week 10: 
Do 52 lengths of local pool @ 52p a length for charity. Never. Again. View

Week 7: 
Do a lap of the M25. Tick. Witness an amazing accident whilst doing it? Tick. View

Week 2:
Read Shakespeare. Not all of it, obviously, just one play. I chose Much Ado About Nothing. Not bad. View

So I want you to suggest Forty things that I may not have thought about doing in my life and I can pick Tweleve that I may be able to attempt (so those taking notice that’s a new thing once a month) – but I can try and do as many of them over the year.. and document it all here, but as It takes me at least a week to decide which DVDs to hire let along organise something like this – I will be totally out of my comfort zone.

So if you want to leave a comment with a suggestion of what I could do and hopfeully we will get Forty things that I can take a pick from and make a stab at them from the 19th October 2011.

Remember I’am not as go-getting as Nick and I am know for being a grumpy sod but I may even enjoy some of them.

I will have veto on the ideas (and remove immoral ones) of course.

MrsUW has left the first Idea but I think it’s just a dig at my untidiness and not something to change my life but who I am I to complain ;)

  • Mrs Uncle Wilco

    Keep the shed tidy so Mrs Uncle Wilco doesn’t fall or trip over stuff when she opens the door :)

  • MaundyMitchell

    1.  Take a falconry lesson:  http://www.midwalesfalconry.co.uk/
    2.  Buy a Mini Cooper convertible with racing stripes.  Because you’re turning forty, you’ll be expected to have a “mid-life crisis,” and everyone will accept this purchase as such.
    3.  Start a journal, which can be the beginning of your riveting memoir.
    4.  Take a surfing lesson:  http://www.wsfsurfschool.co.uk/
    5.  Go for a hot air balloon ride:  http://www.baileyballoons.co.uk/our-flights/where-we-fly/south-wales.html
    6.  Get another dog

  • mike

    Set up a weekly appointment with your GP, it’s downhill from here in ;)

  • http://twitter.com/Documentally Documentally

    Play Wheelchair basketball, sleep rough, do a random act of kindness, Take a Thai cooking class, get a massage (a proper one), Train as a barista, write a short story, get a caricature of yourself, design a tatoo, go fishing.. more later.

  • MaundyMitchell

    7.  Publish a book.  Sheds of the World? 
    8. Take a trip:  For #7, you’ll need to travel.   Chapters could include Sheds of New Zealand,  Sheds of Africa,  Sheds of New England.  (There’s a shed up the road from me that has been made into a nativity scene, but the lawnmower is usually parked in it.  Baby Jesus loves lawnmowers.  Maybe I’ll do that book.)
    9.  Register an international trademark:  Sheddies
    10.  Take a class:  What will it be–poetry, pottery, history? 

  • Hellen@oldiecomposers.com

    Well I suggest you write a song and enter it in our http://www.oldiecomposers.com competition. You will ge killing a number of birds with one stone, firstly, you will be doing something new (I expect) and secondly you will be helping Barnardos, and if you are one of the top four, you will be invited to a top London studio to record or watch your song being recorded by professional musicians. :-)

  • http://www.readersheds.co.uk/ Uncle Wilco

    a great one!

  • http://www.readersheds.co.uk/ Uncle Wilco

    a few there even I could manage

  • http://www.readersheds.co.uk/ Uncle Wilco

    shed book you say ;) that’s in the pipeline

  • alex johnson

    Learn a language (or at least start a bit)
    Learn a musical instrument (ditto)
    Listen to all Ralph Vaughan Williams’ symphonies
    Learn a poem off by heart
    Read Ted Hughes’s translation of Tales from Ovid
    Buy and wear a nice hat on an ongoing basis
    Watch the first series of West Wing
    Come to the St Albans CAMRA beer festival with me

  • http://www.readersheds.co.uk/ Uncle Wilco

    St Albans Beer festival mmm you know me so well ;)

  • http://www.radiocartoonist.com Radiocartoonist

    Kiss a Hollywood star. Preferably a female one but that’s entirely up to you.

  • Mark Adams

    Set up as a Street Food Vendor and get a stall/van! No, not another burger van but something different more akin to ‘proper’ street food like you’d find in Asia or even NYC!

  • Hellen@oldiecomposers.com

    Build something from scratch. 

  • Suw Charman

    - Visit Tromsø in northern Norway. It’s an amazing town, and you’ll love the shed-like architecture
    - Learn how to make green tea properly, then teach 10 other people. 
    - Recruit 5 people to the Open Rights Group 
    - Buy as many birthday/christmas presents direct from the makers through Folksy, Etsy, etc
    - Fly a kite

    I think you’re going to have an awesome year! 

  • http://www.rachaelblogs.co.uk Rachael

    Go Zorbing,
    Shear a sheep (Welsh connection)
    Meet Simon Cowell
    Do a youtube rap video
    make your own beer
    make your own wine
    throw a party to sample homemade beer and wine

  • Unklerupert

    Do all you can to take part in an episode of Come Dine With Me.
    Get a tattoo of your face on your ass.
    Have your beard plaited like Jack Sparrow.
    Have your hair beaded like a teenage girl just back from family holiday in Lanzarote (sounds ace pronounced with Cardiff accent btw)
    Wax your entire body (apart from head – see above)
    Take salsa lessons.
    Read the entire works of Catherine Cookson.
    Get a penis mold made, then create some novelty garden ornaments.
    Burn all the denim you own, dance around the fire pumping out The Saturdays (dance badly)

    More to come…

  • Nick “52 New Things” Thorpe

    Walk on fire
    Have a “proper” shave
    Learn how to count to ten in Arabic
    Make 40 new friends
    Find four other people with the same name as you
    Connect with a distant relative that you’ve never met before
    Visit a country that you’ve never wanted to visit before. Who knows, it could be brilliant.
    Spend less than £1 a day for a week
     
    Just a few to get you going. Good luck sir!

  • Dhana

    Spend a night (or two) with the homeless – either sleeping rough or volunteer in a soup kitchen).

  • Martin Veale

    Spend a week without any electrical/IT equipment
    Talk to every stranger you meet
    Sneak into a Wales international without a ticket (those were the days)