A few days before my birthday some of the tykes I know invited me to join a Facebook group called “40 things to do before I’m 40”. I thought they might be making fun, or looking for a long weekend, but it turned out to be something started by a friend pondering what he should do before entering his own fifth decade.

I’ve been thinking about it, and it seems like it’s time to draw up a list of things I ought to do . A few years ago I put together a 100 Things To Do Before I Die list. It’s still lurking in the bowels ofn the site, but I haven’t checked how I’m doing on it for a while. Reading it through, it’s obvious that some of it was dumb in a way something dreamt up over several sessions in the pub was bound to be. But other bits will make a good basis for the new list.

Working my way through the list, here are a few keepers-

Cycle the Coast to Coast.

Follow the route of the M60 by bike. (There were plans afoot late last year which would have made this happen. I’ll have to see what happened to them.)

Climb the highest peaks in each country of the United Kingdom.

Learn to juggle.

Build a model village.

Visit the beaches of D-Day, and the little town of Quenast my grandparents’ house was named after.

Visit Pearl Harbour.

Own a Land Rover.

Have a bike for every day of the week. (With access to a garage full of bikes you could argue I’ve achieved this one. Expect none of them are in full working order at the moment and as soon as any one is it gets sold.)

Give a grand to charity.

Do over a hundred miles on the Bogle Roll. (I’ve not started training for this year’s yet. Maybe next time.)

Fly in a hot air balloon.

Get a piece of art displayed in a gallery.

I may yet rescue some of the others from the original list, but these’ll do as place holders. Any suggestions?