Tuesday, January 24, 2012

All these places have their moments, with lovers and friends I still can recall, some are dead and some are living


My friend was given a novelty gift at Christmas from his son. It was a set of cards entitled '50 Things To Do Once In A Lifetime'. We were somewhat disheartened to discover that between us we had only done about half of these things. So we split up the 'still to do' cards between us with a view to completing as many as we could before "the man comes around" as Mr Cash so aptly put it.

My cards contained 'Go Skydiving'/'Get Snapped By Paparazzi'/' Appear In A Police Line-Up'. I thought perhaps if I did the first one naked I might be able to cover all three in one fell swoop.

I decided to do my own list of '50 Things I Have Done Once(at least) In My Lifetime'

As Dermot says, in no particular order here they are



1. Saw Scotland beat England at Wembley
2. Been up the Eiffel Tower
3. Eaten a pretzel in Central Park
4. Gone crab hunting in Rothesay
5. Appeared as an extra in a movie
6. Been prawn fishing in a river in Australia
7. Watched the sun go down on Galway Bay
8. Saw Nick Faldo win The Open at Muirfield
9. Won a petanque tournament in Puerto Pollensa
10. Visited Alcatraz
11. Kissed Miss World
12. Watched the birth of my three sons
13. Swam in the sea at Juan-les-Pins (the place in the Peter Sarsted song)
14. Cheered on the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden
15. Watched my eldest son score a hat-trick against the 118th
16. Saw Springsteen live
17. Threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain
18. Won a chess tournament at school
19. Ate breakfast on the Champs-Elysees
20. Wrote a love song
21. Saw Scotland play in Iceland during 24 hour daylight time
22. Ate the worm at the bottom of a bottle of Mezcal
23. Had a snake for a pet in South Africa
24. Turned down an offer of 3 camels for my then wife in Tunisia (those camels and I could have been very happy together)
25. Saw Scotland win a game at the World Cup in 1990
26. Had a beer in the Casino Square, Monte Carlo
27. Ate a Knickerbocker Glory with my mum and dad in Rothesay
28. Won a Shuffleboard competition in Gran Canaria
29. Watched France play Croatia at Euro 2004 in Portugal
30. Fell in love when I least expected it
31. Saw The Mona Lisa
32. Crossed the English Channel on a hovercraft
33. Worked at Butlins for a summer when I left school
34. Walked across The Golden Gate Bridge
35. Kissed Linda Bell (even better than kissing Miss World)
36. Sheared a sheep in Australia
37. Had a canal cruise in Amsterdam (yes, a canal cruise is what we are going for in Amsterdam)
38. Saw my middle son's face holding his new born son
39. Scored a try and missed the conversion for Ayr Academy First Year Thirds
40. Saw Real Madrid play Barcelona in the Bernabeu
41. Experienced the Vappu Festival in Helsinki
42. Met Gabriel Byrne walking across the Brooklyn Bridge (I wonder if this incident is in his top 50)
43. Drove a Bentley and an Aston Martin (both belonged to my brother)
44. Jumped off the top diving dale at Prestwick Baths
45. Won The Cyprus Open Pool Tournament (the majority of the other competitors were made up of my dad and my three young sons)
46. Had a picnic in St Stephen's Green in Dublin
47. Watched my youngest son graduate from Heriot Watt with a First Class Honours Degree
48. Sat in a cable car climbing halfway to the stars and left my heart in San Francisco
49. Was accused of spying at the Germany/Denmark border
50. Fed the Ducks in Queen's Park with Young Ben

I hope to enjoy the first of my next 50 on Saturday when Ayr United play Kilmarnock at Hampden in the Scottish League Cup Semi-Finals. A victory for Ayr Ayr Super Ayr would be the perfect start to my next series of experiences which should include seeing Ben play for Scotland and also having a number 1 single

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