Time for the bucket list

Now I am not thinking of dying just yet but having cancer concentrates the mind on things you want to do that have been neglected due things that have got in the way, namely work and children! My fledglings have flown the nest and I have been made redundant so now I have time, but not necessarily money!

I found my old bucket list complied some years ago, when it wasn’t really called a bucket list; it was just a list of life goals, and was surprised to find that I had achieved some of them in recent years. These are the ones I had achieved:

• Own my own business – I achieved this by the age of 28 and looking back this was pretty good going, I ran this until I had my children
• Scuba diving in the red sea
• Go on a safari in Africa
• Research my family tree – partly done, one side of my family still to do
• Visit Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam
• Ride a camel
• Own a sports car – I had a Honda S2000 for a few years, a red one with a soft top; it was my pride and joy. I can’t find a picture of mine so this one will do

• Swim with dolphins
• Visit Venice
• See a movie set – I was lucky enough to be an on a Mike Leigh set once in an advisory capacity
• Pay off the mortgage
• Visit Oia in Santorini
• Skinny dip at midnight
• See a desert
• Write a blog!

There are still a few on the original list to do and I have added more. I started off with listing places abroad I wanted to see but stopped listing them after a while as it seemed a little pointless. I have Myeloma so some countries are not keen on letting you in with these types of conditions, insurance can be impossible to get and very expensive, so this may limit my trips abroad in the future! Nevertheless, I have listed a few. Top of the list must be to visit Costa Rica because of the wildlife, the beaches and their commitment to conservation since becoming independent. Apparently, it is also the world’s happiest country.

I’d also like to do the touristy thing of seeing the Taj Mahal and the cherry blossom in Japan. Plus, I’d like to visit the Maldives before they disappear under the sea and stay with my friend who lives in Sydney. Swimming in the dead sea was on my original list and still appeals as does seeing the Northern lights and visiting Auschwitz.

Realising that my trips abroad may be limited in the future led me to think more about the places in the UK I wanted to visit and have, yet not managed. I have wanted to go to Edinburgh for a long time and it would be nice to experience the fringe festival there.

I want to go to Bletchley Park as the code breaking of the Second World War has always interested me. I have never been to Cornwall so I would like to explore that area of the UK and see St Michael’s mount. There are loads of National Trust properties I would like to visit and I’d like to see Castle Howard at Christmas. I have never been to Portmeirion in Wales, although it isn’t far away and I’d like to eat Oysters in Whitstable as that’s what they are famous for! As far as London is concerned, being a Londoner I have done loads of things but there are still a couple of things I would like to do namely visit the Shard staying in the luxury hotel there and do the Buckingham Palace tour.

Experience wise I would still like to do the following:

• Fly a kite as an adult
• Get a complete make over when my hair grows back after my stem cell transplant
• Drive a bus – I’ve wanted to do this since I was a child but it was the old-fashioned ones with the open back, the Routemasters that appealed, not the modern ones!

• Go clay pigeon shooting, although I think I’d be awful at it!
• Fly first class – I’ve done business class a few times but never first class
• Fly in a helicopter
• Ride a Segway
• Take up spinning again – I used to do this when the children were small and the rhythmic sound and movement of the wheel used to send them to sleep!
• Have a thermal bath in Bath
• Eat at a Michelin Star restaurant
• Go on a Spar weekend – no I have never been on one, not even for a day
• Go on a road trip in an RV, preferably in the USA but that may have to be in the UK now, but I’m not sure it would be quite the same!
• Experience a cruise, preferably round the world – the nearest I have got to that is the ferry to Calais!
• Volunteer, preferably abroad somewhere, again may be off the list and need to be the UK
• Go on the ferry across the Mersey
• Have grandchildren – my children are not obliging currently

Now all that is left is the few things I want to still ‘do’. I would like to join ‘Borrow my Doggy’ when I am fit again as my husband isn’t keen on dogs so I’ve not had one for years and I hanker after a Dachshund. This might be the next best thing, either that or I could go and walk the dogs in the shelter but that may be a bad idea as I’d want to take them all home with me! I’d also like to sign up for house and pet sitting as this may be a good way of seeing other parts of the country. The last thing is to finish my family tree and research the Irish side of my family. I am a typical East Ender with my roots in Stepney and Whitechapel but the other half were Irish immigrants, which was typical of the times.

Obviously, I may think of other things to add to the list but I think that’s it for now. I need to start crossing things off! If anyone can help me achieve any please feel free to offer! Now where’s the map?

What’s on your bucket list?