John and I were discussing this yesterday evening, apropos the two climbers who are nearly at the top of El Capitan (above), a sheer rock face that is supposed to be the hardest climb in the world . The ascent of El Capitan went straight to the top of my un-bucket list, together with (in no particular order):
Bungee jumping.
Potholing. My late husband used to take schoolboys on potholing expeditions. The idea of lowering myself into a wet, dark hole in the ground for fun is totally bewildering. Taking children along too....well, no.
Eating crispy dog in Hong Kong.
Rolling down the Niagara Falls in a barrel.
Eating anything that's still alive.
Being stuck on a the M6 in a heat wave. If you haven't tried the M6, then don't.
Going down a sewer (though my mother would have said that of course I should be able to do this, because I'm a nurse. She seemed to think that nurses are immune to any kind of olfactory unpleasantness. Trust me. We aren't).
Reading Finnegan's Wake.
There are many more, but I won't bore you with them, What's on your un-bucket list?
re the sewer: I was once staying on the Italian Riviera in a small town where all the shops and hotels were separated from the beach by a railway line. The only way to get down to the beach was via a walkway within a huge sewer pipe; the contents of which were heading straight for the sea!
ReplyDeleteI do eat live oysters, but otherwise I tend to agree with your list.
I'd have stayed away from the beach, Cro. There are limits!
DeleteMy un-bucket list (if I had one) could be a 1:1 copy of yours. Add "Going on an Aida-cruise" and "Watching every episode of 'Sex and the City' " plus "Going to a Heavy Metal concert", and you're pretty nearly complete. Oh, maybe I should not forget about "Getting a tattoo" and "Having any body part pierced" (ear lobes don't count).
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind a discreet tattoo, but am too mean and lazy to bother.
DeleteSo funny and I agree with everything. I would add Ulysses to the reading list, although I am curious.
ReplyDeleteYes. Ulysses too. I forgot about that.
DeleteAn unbucket list! What a fabulous, freeing concept!
ReplyDeleteWelcome! And thank you for the comment.
DeleteI could start with copying your list and Librarian's, and adding an expedition to the South Pole. I'd probably give Finnegan's Wake a go before I'd ever try any of the more physical kind of adventures. But I have to add (after having had a glance at the first chapter online) that it seems very unlikely I'll ever get round to it... I'll consider it after having finished Ulysses (which has been on my Unbegun list for forty years or so)...
ReplyDeleteDT, I've got to a stage in life where I read what I want to enjoy, not what I ought to read. I've just finished the Booker Prize winner, though.
DeleteWhat did you think of it Frances? I've read some reviews; not all favourable.
DeleteVery good on the whole, but a bit fragmented and a lot of toing and froing in time and place. Very well written, but I've read a lot of better novels. I'd give it a try. Let me know what you think!
DeleteI, too, would combine your and Meike's lists and, at this time in my life, add a visit to Africa (with a few possible exceptions like Marrakech). I tried reading Ulysses once but decided that life was too short (and my abilities inadequate). I certainly have no desire to become the 42nd person to read Finnegan's Wake.
ReplyDeleteYes. What IS it about Joyce? Is it emperor's new clothes? Or am I just stupid? (Of course, I don't include you, Graham!)
DeleteAll of the above And especially anything by Joyce.
ReplyDelete