Category: 60 Before 60

My 2021 Challenges and Wins

2021 didn’t quite turn out the way we’d all hoped, but it wasn’t all bad. Read on for a review of my 2021 challenges and wins.

‘Happy New Year’ they said.

‘Thank goodness 2020 is over‘ they went on.

‘2021 can only get better‘ they proclaimed.

Well, we all know how that went!

It wasn’t all bad though. Despite some real challenges there were wins as well. Most of the wins wouldn’t have been classed as wins in any ‘normal’ year, but one of the pluses to living through a second year of a global pandemic is that you start to appreciate things you took for granted before.

When I look back over 2021 a few things really stand out. So here are my biggest challenges and best wins of the past year.

Continue reading “My 2021 Challenges and Wins”

25 Ways to Pretend to be a New Yorker

On my recent trip to New York I wanted to be more than a just a tourist. I wanted to get insider insights and feel like I could be a New Yorker. This is what I learnt.

The anthropologist in me is never content with just visiting a place and being a tourist. I like to feel I’m getting under the skin and finding out what it’s like to be a local there. This was even more important to me than usual when I made my first visit to New York in October. It’s a place I’ve dreamed about visiting for years decades. It’s a place I’ve seriously thought about spending a year in just so I can get to know it. It’s why it’s on my ‘60 things to do before I’m 60‘ list. 

Continue reading “25 Ways to Pretend to be a New Yorker”

Starring the Whaligoe Steps

A visit to the Whaligoe Steps should be on everyone’s NC500 wishlist. They’re notoriously difficult to find though, so if you are planning to visit have a look at the step-by-step directions I’ve given here. I got lucky with the weather and so used the opportunity of a nice day to explore and decided to launch my film-making career whilst I was at it!

If you’ve looked up ideas for travelling around Scotland in recent years, two types of ‘tour’ will have jumped out at you:

Outlander and NC500.

The Outlander tour routes are all about visiting filming locations used for the Outlander TV series and some (all) of the places you’ll get to visit on these tours are amazing. I know because I’ve been to some of them. But that’s for another post.

The other type of tour that jumps out at you from Google is the NC500 or North Coast 500. This is something a brilliantly-minded marketing official at Visit Scotland came up with a few years ago. Many tourists visit Scotland each year. Many tourists go to the Highlands each year. Many tourists do not venture further north than Loch Ness. The Great Glen and its lochs, including Loch Ness, form a watery geographical border stretching from Fort William in the west to Inverness in the east. Until recently this also seemed to be a tourist border. For some reason, people didn’t venture further north than this. Continue reading “Starring the Whaligoe Steps”

Looking for Lava

Mt Etna erupts and re-ignites my lust for lava.

Bromo
At the top of Bromo with the sand sea in the background.

In 2008 I came close to achieving my dream of seeing lava. I was travelling through Indonesia and saw plenty of volcanoes in Java and Bali, but at none of them did I have any chance of seeing lava.

Not until Merapi that is. Continue reading “Looking for Lava”

Friday Flickr – Outer Hebrides: St Kilda

Memories of one of the best day trips ever.

This week’s Friday Flickr is the last in my series of reminiscences from my travels through the Outer Hebrides.

Just before my trip ended I achieved one of my major goals and managed to get to St Kilda. It was only for a day, but at least I got there. Continue reading “Friday Flickr – Outer Hebrides: St Kilda”

The 4-Hour Work Week

Change the way you think about how you live your life and earn your living.

By Timothy Ferriss

4 hour work week

I read this a while ago and I still haven’t decided what I really think of it.

The ideas sound great in theory, but I’m not so sure in practice. Sure, if you’re running a particular type of business or living a particular type of lifestyle it might work, but I don’t really see how I could fit the theory to my lifestyle. Continue reading “The 4-Hour Work Week”

Afternoon Tea at the Ritz

An afternoon spent masquerading as a posh lady got another challenge ticked off my 60 things to do before I’m 60 list.

Dodging showers we made it to the Ritz, not looking our best, but not looking too bedraggled either. Back in February when I’d booked our afternoon tea I’d half hoped for rain so I could have one of the top-hatted doormen hold a golf umbrella over my head as I went up to the steps to the entrance. Continue reading “Afternoon Tea at the Ritz”

Not the Friday Flickr

Getting frustrated with Flickr

I’ve been trying (and surprisingly succeeding) to do a weekly feature on my blog – each Friday I’ve showcased one of my Flickr albums. This has encouraged me to build my presence on Flickr as well as having helped get me into a routine with my blog.

This Friday there was no Friday Flickr post. Continue reading “Not the Friday Flickr”

Going Live

Going live with my website means I can finally get that challenge ticked off my 60 before 60 list.

Drum roll …

So it’s still far from perfect.

I have too many posts still sitting in draft meaning I have months on my blog with no content. I haven’t designed the snazzy eye-catching banner I can visualize, but can’t get down on paper. I have a logo image, but haven’t worked out how to actually turn it into a logo yet. I have old posts that lost some of their photos and formatting when I imported them from my old blog. Continue reading “Going Live”

Developing a Brexit Strategy aka ‘My Brexit To Do List’

I’ve made a Brexit Strategy To Do list to help me survive and succeed no matter what happens next.

It’s a week since Brexit.

I’m not any happier with the result, but not being the type of person to sit around and let something like my country ripping itself apart hinder me for too long, I’ve had my planning head on. Continue reading “Developing a Brexit Strategy aka ‘My Brexit To Do List’”