Starters orders ....

I'm very good at starting, I good with ideas, I'm a great one for saying "This would be good thing to do..." I'm OK at getting it going. I'm rubbish at finishing. So this should be the easy bit. I'm still musing over what should be the ten more things I need to make my list up to a nice round 50 but I have started several of my missions. 

My first big stumbling block was this blog itself. I think initially I thought about blogging everyday like a diary, then when day two came I thought  "I have nothing to say" then the week came around and I felt the same. All guidance says be regular and be consistent so people know when to expect your drivel. So I'm worried that "my people" have been looking for installment two. (Ha - what people? Only my sweetie Gary knows of the existence of this blurb.) Then I remembered that part of me thinks I don't want anyone to read it because I have nothing much to say except to myself. Part of me was disappointed that no one has seen it.

Oh... I think refreshing my touch typing skills should be on the list, as even though I learned to type properly on an old-school typewriter and at one point could do about 100 wpm, typing this page seems a trial and my accuracy had gone to s***. 

Another thing I'm in the process of deciding is that I don't like typing straight into blogger. I think from now on I'm going to use good old Word, where I know how to edit everything and it has auto-correct and it remembers my typos, and yes I know that's why I can't type any more, but still its much easier.

Anyhow, in no particular order.

The first to start and to falter was leaving the house everyday. January in England is not the time to take on a task like that. Originally I had a "Come what may ..." idea in my head and "even if its just to the corner shop" but going outside in miserable weather just to prove a point seems a bit stupid. I have amended this to be realistic. I will try not to have two consecutive days when I don't go out but I may not brave foul weather just for the sake of it.

I have completed a week one of Couch to 5K which is a triumph as my previous two attempts stalled after one day out. The weather is inclement but my will is still strong and I will be on track for week two.

I have been taking plenty of photos, even if some of them are of the inner turmoil of the house. I got a new toy; a loooooong lens which I will be putting into service next week when we take a trip to Norfolk for some birdwatching. Oh that's given me an idea - you know what just happened? I left the blog to find something out and then I forgot my idea. This just brings into focus what my brain is like and how I have to approach blogging. OK, the idea was to keep a full bird diary for a year. That's now on the list. I may be able to tick off one target as completed already as my trip to Norfolk could include 5 RSPB reserves that I have not visited before. 

It's on.

It's harder than you think ...

Blogging...! How to convince myself that anyone gives a monkey's about my day which seems so mundane that I'm too timid to start writing it down. Well it's hard. I tell myself I'm writing for myself and not to hope or even care if anyone reads it, but I can't kid myself. I want somebody to read it, but that means it has to be "Worth reading" and then I end up at the beginning again. Oh hum... 

Anyway, 50 for 50 is having some (limited) progress, many of my goals are ongoing and cannot be realised until the end of Year 50. You know what happened, I just went into that loop of is it year 50 or is it year 51. We had all this at Y2K - do you remember?  When exactly did the new millennium start? Was it at the end of 1999 or 2000? Oh man, that was a long time ago.

Apparently, it's Year 51 and that just doesn't have a good feel to it because it makes me think I should have done all of this last year. Oh hum II...

One discrete, measurable goal was achieved a couple of weeks ago: I took a trip to Norfolk to do some birdwatching. Norfolk is a county in the East of England which has more than its fair share of bird life so that was the ideal place to go to complete one of my goals. There are five major Royal Society for the Protection of Birds reserves in Norfolk as well as countless lesser ones and non RSPB sites also, so it was a cinch to complete my goal of visiting five this year. Weather was cooold, icy and below zero with bitey wind when we were at the coast, which was most of the time. However, it was joyous, exhilarating and life affirming to be out in it.

I had purchased a little toy to keep me happy, which was a very big super telephoto lens (see Techno techno ...) which I knew was going to make me 

a. see more birds and 
b. become a better photographer instantly. Ha-ha. 

This was one of my early attempts with the new zoom,
these ducks got a bit big on me!

The "Bigma" 50-500 lens

I have achieved a second goal last night when I went to Swan Lake, as I had always wanted to see a ballet but had never made it before. We saw it in the very cute Theatre Royal in my home town of Brighton, I loved everything about it. I'll need to re-read the precis to completely understand the story, but the venue, the performers, the music and the costumes were all sublime. I need to hurry up and choose an opera.

Several things on my hit list have deserve a “requires improvement” but I can now tick off two completed targets and pat myself on the back.

Bravo moi.