30 before 30 – Progress Report

1. See the pyramids – Egypt in October booked! DONE What an experience! See my blog post here for more information on this one!
2. WILD swim (in the Hampstead Ponds) DONE Next stop, Kings Cross Lido this summer.
3. Read 30 books (I’m midway through no 20 now and it’s the middle of April!) Not 100% sure I’m going to finish this one, but I can only try.
4. Visit the Sky Garden (it’s free!) Date night plan for this one sometime soon, or date night with my sister as I know she wants to go too.
5. Sky dive (in Brazil in June?!) This is definitely happening in Rio.
6. Catch up with ALL the #Bordeladies This happened (minus Gale, but that would have been too difficult!) at Fanny’s wedding last weekend in Long Eaton. So much fun, check out my blog on local eatery, The Harrington Arms.
7. Make Aligot (amazing cheesy, garlicky French mashed potato) The blooming recipe card is STILL on my pinboard! This will be done!
8. Visit St Pauls cathedral – DONE! This was amazing! Yet to write a blog post on it yet, but will be done soon.
9. Eat at a Michelin starred restaurant. Turns out i already did this a few years back when i ate at Arbutus in Soho – their pre-theatre menu is great value and really yummy!
10. Do a centurion (drinking a shot every minute for a 100 minutes) Trying to get a date in the diary for this one…when I have a lot of sleep time the next day!
11. Eat at Duck and Waffle – Bday brunch I think!
12. Get a new phone, this one is pissing me off! Still P-ing me off, still no new phone!
13. Be more creative – this one needs some specifics! I’m thinking an actual project?? I did do melty Crayon-Art like this but I’m thinking something in the garden now that the weather is heating up a little bit. More Pallet furniture maybe? Lee does have a power-drill!
14. Learn to needle felt – Hazel was going to teach me this, still not happened!
15. Learn a song with both hands on the piano. Again this was a Hazel one, still not happened.
16. New! Visit the Tower of London
17. New! Write a poem I’m proud of
18. New! Write a new blog post everyday until I turn 30 –  could be a lot of random ones…but I can try. It could be my new lunch time activity at work. Better than reading the Daily Mail…
19. New! Go on a brewery tour in London
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25. These need filling in…!
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.

If you have any suggestions let me know!

Book 18 of 30 – Belle by Paula Byrne

Picked up this book at the Kenwood House gift shop Bank Holiday Sunday, finished it 5 days later! Really interesting ‘investigation’ into the life and times of Dido Belle, the illegitimate mixed race daughter of the Earl of Mansfields nephew and how she came to live in the grand house at Hampstead that is Kenwood.
The fascination with her history stems from an interesting portrait she features in (displayed at Kenwood) where despite her ethnicity she is dressed in an ornate gown, unusual for the era.

Definitely worth a read, the history is fascinating, especially the ‘swept under the carpet’ history of Britain’s past in slave trading and the Caribbean sugar plantations…and if you’re in the area, do go explore Kenwood House – it’s free entry and an English Heritage property!

Book 16 of 30 – Maid of the Mist by Colin Bateman

I did not have high expectations for this book – take a gander at the front cover and take a guess why! Yes I realise that that is the worst example of judging a book by its cover ever…actually judging a book by its cover!

The book was surprisingly good really, light hearted, somewhat interesting and a pretty good little adventure story – as long as you suspend your disbelief for a moment or two!

Set in Niagara, mostly on the Canadian side of the border the story includes aspects of the Irish Troubles, international drug trafficking, native American Indians, the fascination we have with super stars and even delves into a bit of police corruption!

Book 15 of 30 – A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

One of those books that even now writing about it I can’t decide whether I enjoyed or not…it wasn’t a difficult read, I’m just not sure I got the point of it all! It follows a family and a house in particular through the generations (with a bit of skipping back and forth) but not a whole lot really happens…

Book 14 of 30 – Invisible Thread by Maree Giles

Set in Australia in 1970, this exploration of the bond between a young mother and her child, brutally separated by the state after she is deemed unfit due to her age, is heart-wrenching, emotional and ultimately makes you want to scream at the inifficiency and stupidity of the system. A quick read but worth it.

Book 13 of 30 – To My Daughter in France by Barbara & Stephanie Keating

It’s only now writing this that I realise the book is written by 2 women; sisters I presume? I left the book at home so can’t read the authors notes. I wonder what the process of writing with someone else is like, whether you always write together (in which case it must be difficult when one of you isn’t feeling inspired or is just tired) or do you each write sections (in which case it must be difficult to maintain character voices and narrative style)…something to ponder over anyway!

The book itself is good, I always love a good war time love story and with its overlapping storylines between France and Ireland, this story is unlike any I’ve read before about world war two.

Likeable and heroic characters find themselves in incredibly difficult situations with even harder choices to make. Human strength and the desire to survive are explored against a backdrop of everlasting love that survives against the odds. A beautifully haunting tale which spans the generations as well as the seas.

Book 12 of 30 – The Private Life of Elizabeth II by Michael Paterson

A easy to read chronicle of the life of our Queen. For the royalist or even those only remotely interested, this book tells the story of the lady who has been the one constant through many of our lives here in the UK and also around the world. Straying a little behind the scenes, without appearing crass, Paterson collects together tidbits, commentary and press coverage to present a fully rounded picture of the Queen, her life both private and public and that of her family.

Book 12 of 30 – The Private Life of Elizabeth II by Michael Patterson

A easy to read chronicle of the life of our Queen. For the royalist or even those only remotely interested, this book tells the story of the lady who has been the one constant through many of our lives here in the UK and also around the world. Straying a little behind the scenes, without appearing crass, Paterson collects together tidbits, commentary and press coverage to present a fully rounded picture of the Queen, her life both private and public and that of her family.

Book 11 of 30 – The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to finish another book! I’ve actually got about 3 on the go but the others are not that good so I keep giving up – not something I normally like doing with books!

This one, written by the author of The Notebook is far too easy a read, it basically took me new years weekend to finish it, with some lovely long lazy lie ins helping immensely. It’s well written and the characters are easy to imagine small town stereotypes, with the stranger from out of town a common fixture in literature, arriving to mess with the status quo and disrupting the peace. I liked it and will definitely hunt out some of Sparks other novels when I want a weekend under the covers!