My Bucket List - Because Life is for Living

Life is for the living, if only we had the time, money and imagination. We only get one life and we don't know how long we'll get. I don't understand those that whittle it away, losing the opportunity to experience the wonders our world offers. Yes, it can be expensive. Yes, it can be scary. But adventures are out there waiting for us, we just need to grab them.

But, what to do? Where to go? There is only one thing for it - I need to write a bucket list!

There are two types of people who write lists. The ones who write lists of things they still have to do and those who write lists which, in addition to the things they still have to do, also include some of those they have already completed, just so they can cross them off and feel good. I, embarrassingly so, belong to the latter. It is totally illogical, I know, but the action of crossing off items already completed on my 'ink just dry' list somehow makes me feel like I am one step closer to completing my list. I feel it is about momentum.

So, after 30 years of deliberation, here is my draft bucket list (and because I'm me, I've thrown in some items I have already done). It is draft because I intend to add to it as new ideas come to me, so, dear reader, if you have any extra ideas, feel free to add your ideas as comments to this blog and if they make it onto my bucket list I will attribute them to you.

1. Step foot on all 7 continents
2. See all new wonders of the world (Great Wall of China, Petra, Christ the Redeemer, Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Colosseum, Taj Mahal, Great Pyramid of Giza)
3. Write a blog (tick) and a book
4. Read the entire completed words of Jane Austin (Pride and Prejudice (tick), Emma, Persuasion (tick), Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park (tick) and Northanger Abbey (tick)
5. Go zorbing
6. Own my own home (tick - house bought November 2011)
7. Swim with dolphins (tick)
8. Ride something bigger than a horse
9. Spend a day on a deserted tropical island (tick) (deserted Maldivian Island in the Indian Ocean)
10. Surf (no matter how badly)
11. See The Grand Canyon (tick), Niagara Falls (tick), the Hollywood Sign, The Golden Gate Bridge (tick), Times Square (tick), the Amazon, The NASA building (tick) and Mount Rushmore
12. Sleep under the stars (no tent) (no ponies)
13. Officially name a star (tick) (tick) (tick) (that's thrice - not a typo)
14. Participate in 'Burning Man'
15. Fly a plane (tick)
16. Skydive
17. Patent my invention (don't ask, I can't tell)
18. Grow my own vegetables on an allotment
19. Visit every Country in Europe - those already 'ticked' are: England, Wales, Scotland, France, Germany, Spain, Holland, Italy, Iceland, Switzerland and Belgium.
20. Make every Christmas present I give for one Christmas (tick - Christmas 2011 - hampers and scarfs)

OK, there's 20 for starters. Some, admittedly, are easier than others. I will update the (tick)s as I achieve them, and add to my initial 20 as more come to me.

Right, no time to chat! I've got a bucket list to be getting on with.....