The List

Ok, so here's the thing.  This year on April the 14th I shall turn 38.  No big deal, you might say.  Well it is if I want to get 40 things done before I'm 40, ranging from the simple to the pretty outrageous and probably impossible.  So I've decided that from today I will start planning and doing the things on my list.  I will write a blog about each thing, with photographs as evidence if appropriate.  I'm also keen for others to be involved and will be asking for advice, hints and tips on a number of the things as I go through the list.  Particular friends who have experience in some of the things will be called upon, and many other will be asked to just come and join the fun.

So, my first blog is simply "The List".  The 40 things I plan to do before I turn 40 on the 14th of April 2017.  They are not in any order of preference or chronology, they are just exactly as they popped into my head, or were suggested to me.  I will also publish a "Reserves" list at a later date in case some are more impossible than I'd hoped when writing the list, so that there are fall back plans.

Here goes:

40 things before I'm 40

1. Learn a foreign language (probably French or maybe Italian) well enough to write a meaningful song in it.
2. Train for and run a Half Marathon for Charity (ask Jon Collins for advice and help)
3. Take a group of friends to “Go Ape” for a day swinging about in Trees.
4. Take a course in Arboriculture to learn more about trees.
5. Record at least one track at Real World Studios (near Bath – vaguely realistic)
6. Record at least one track at Rancho De La Luna (in Joshua Tree, California – shooting for the moon stuff so may be replaced by a reserve if necessary!)
7. Watch the sun rise on the east coast of Northern Ireland (Newcastle, County Down), drive around the coast road of Antrim (stopping for lunch somewhere picturesque) then watch it set on the West Coast of Ireland (Donegal).
8. Organise and go on a song-writers & lyricists retreat somewhere beautiful in the UK with writers and musicians from different genres and with myriad influences.
9. Climb Sleive Donard (Highest Peak in Northern Ireland) again as a nice easy warm up for 10 and 11 (combine with trip for 7).
10. Train for and climb the 3 Peaks – Snowdon (both directions this time – no Trains allowed even on the way down!), Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis – not in 24 hour challenge, a more relaxed pace is required when approaching 40!!
11. Climb Carrauntoohil – Kerry, Ireland – Joint 3^rd Highest Peak in the British Isles :)
12. Abseil down something cool for Charity (cliff face, building, whatever)
13. Perform at the Leamington Assembly (Either as part of an event like Trinity, or as a support artist for a band playing there).
14. Tour “The Light Broke In” and additional new material in as many UK venues as possible during 2015 as a solo artist and with the full band where appropriate/possible.
15. Release a Charity Single with a “B-Side” by another artist (No...not for Bi-Polar Polar Bears)
16. Go to the Netherlands
17. Go to Italy
18. Go to Hong Kong (again)
19. Go to Australia
20. Play somewhere in Nashville and spend more time mixing with the song-writers and musicians there.
21. Buy a Dobro and learn to play it like the guy from Union Station (possibly in Nashville too, well, it's what they play there isn't it and there were some lovely ones in that guitar shop as I remember)
22. Have a bottle of Red and a bottle of White in a New York Italian Restaurant (Billy Joel Lyric Reference)
23. Go back to New Orleans and explore some of the natural habitats surrounding it – those swamp-trees looked intruiging!
24. Go to Iceland (The Place, not the shop!)
25. Ride a Horse on a sandy beach somewhere
26. Go to the Orkney Islands and find lots of Sinclairs including the guy who runs the Orkney Brewery :)
27. Learn a few steps of Irish Dance and jig about a bit
28. Get at least one track played on BBC Radio 2 (I'll settle for 6 Music if I can't get the 2, but I want the 2!)
29. Get back to the weight I was in my mid-twenties (with a small degree of tolerance for the fact I now have more hair!)
30. Get Steve Rothery to play a solo (or three!) on my next album
31. Improve my Cello playing and write and arrange for it more
32. Write 40 new pieces of music (this can be songs, instrumentals whatever takes my fancy really! Thanks to Barbara Ann May for the suggestion).
33. Make some creative and artistic things out of old used/broken guitar strings using various mediums (paint, photography, sculpture etc.)
34. Take the last train to Clarksville (Tenessee – so will fit in nicely with Nashville etc.) (Monkees Song Reference).
35. Make a mosaic picture from bits of broken china found in people's gardens.
36. Have a day of just properly messing about, playing, climbing trees and generally being a big kid with a bunch of mates who are young at heart.
37. Dance on a Volcano (Genesis Song Reference)
38. Talk to my Mum about her memories of childhood and life before we came along and record her thoughts and reminiscences so I can write them down. So many fascinating stories that need to be preserved for my generation and the ones to come.
39. Research my Mum's side of the family and get a bit more of a family tree from the Dollin side as I'm fully appraised of the Sinclair Tree stretching back to Robert The Bruce but am far less familiar with the Dollin line.
40. Take more photographs of people! I spend a lot of time photographing easy things to photograph like Trees and Flowers as unless there's a high wind, they tend to stay still, look beautiful and not shy away. That does mean though, that special moments with friends stay in my memory, but not in photographic form, and that needs to change.

As you see, it covers quite a lot of travel, quite a lot of climbing, quite a lot of running about and as was to be expected, a huge amount of music!