I had thought long and hard about reaching 40 (well you do - don't you?) and had thought about a party... or a weekend away ... or a meal out ... they just didn't seem like the kind of celebration that 'fitted' me!
Don't get me wrong, parties are great fun and I love weekends away! As for the food thing - well we all like that don't we :-) but when I started thinking about things that it would be great to do for my '40th celebration' that was when I decided why stop at a one-off celebration? Why not celebrate for a whole year??
So, here I am! I just turned 40 and already I have ticked off one activity from my list! Hurrah!
Today I went to the Rother Valley Country Park and tried my hand at windsurfing! I don't know why this particular sport caught my imagination but I did once have a quick try (about 1994 I think!) but it was only quick and was curtailed by an unfortunate accident (not mine I hasten to add) and I never got the chance for another go!
Anyway, we arrived in convoy (two cars as I had hubbie John and two kids in tow and we went with friends, Gary & Lisa and their boys). The weather had been awful for the past few days and I had prepared myself for heavy rain and wind (the latter is necessary I know but I didn't want gale force!).
Surprisingly the sun was out and the lake looked grand - a few windsurfers were already out and I was as keen as ever - so we went to hire boards and wetsuits...
Now, wetsuits are a thing of dread for many and I am no different .. but Lisa and I had already decided that 'it wasn't going to be Baywatch out there' :-) but it had to be done!
No wetsuit worries for my teenage daughter - a veteran of various activity centres and school trips, even having made herself famous for capsizing a non-capsizeable dinghy!
The taming of the beast wasn't as bad as first feared and so I was soon out at the waters edge keen to get in and have a go ... good job Gary knew what he was doing and made sure that we each knew the basics - like how to get on :-) before stranding ourselves mid-lake!
Well - there was no fear of that and soon I was falling off just as much as I had guessed I would - but always with a laugh (and sometimes a gasp if I went under!!) but I soon mastered the art of getting myself up onto the board and hoisting the rig into the 'safe' position!
The trouble was that I found it very hard to move on to the next step! Whenever I was holding the boom (technical talk - are you impressed?) I seemed to end up heading for the shore and having to jump off and pull my board into deeper water in order to get back on and head off!
Eventually Gary moved onto the part about turning round and coming back into shore - which was great except that I still hadn't managed to get away from shore yet!
I did, after much practice, manage to get a (slow) move on and headed out towards the middle of the lake - and when I did eventually fall in (you knew it was inevitable!) I looked back to shore and saw that actually I was alot further out than I thought and in fact I had to worry about getting back on the board and sailing it back!
I kind of knew what I should be doing but keeping balance and 'walking the board' to turn it round just wasn't working! Sure enough I fell in again! After struggling to get back on I decided to simply swim back, pulling my board behind me ... not a simple matter but eventually I made it back and took a few minutes to catch my breath ... !!
Meanwhile Lisa had been going great guns and had mastered the art of surfing out and back again and was busy looking fab in all directions - I'm only a little jealous - honest :-)
My daughter had also got on really well and was far away from us in the middle of the lake but even as I admired her style she lost the rig and stood there with her arms out as if to say 'what should I do now?'. She tried to get it back up and was obviously struggling so Gary set of to help her get back to shore...
Lisa came in for a while so I had another short go before our time was up and we decided that lunch was calling - probably something to do with the fact that the boys had been tapping up John for coinage for the vending machines!!
Off to the changing rooms and we managed to peel off the wetsuits and get a hot shower - fab!
Lunch came in the form of a posh picnic (well - it had to be didn't it?) and we sat by the waters edge and admired the efforts of fellow windsurfers whilst munching on a variety of picnic food, all washed down with hot tea!
So, here I am, tired and happy and the first thing ticked off my 'Things to do when I'm 40' list!
I do have other things in the pipeline and will be keeping you up to date as they take place!
Want to see my list?
Well OK - here goes (now don't laugh!)...
I'd love to go on a climbing wall ... and I really want to abseil down the Humber Bridge too!
A 250 mile round trip to Amsterdam on bicycles to raise money for Marie Curie (all sponsorship greatly appreciated!) ...
A London Theatre Trip - I really love the theatre and would see everything that's on given half a chance but London shows are really special - John has helped me with this one because he has arranged a trip to see 'Jersey Boys' very soon - watch the blog for my review :-)
The Catbells Walk in the Lake District - I know that we've just had a week there but I've just seen the walk on TV this week and it looks great - so it's on my list!
My friend Caitlin and I are planing to do the Playtex Moonwalk in London next year...
I would love to walk up Snowden again - I haven't done it since I was 17 (remember that day Helen? :-)
Indoor Skydiving - yes really! There's a place you can do it - and you can use Tesco Clubcard vouchers too :-)
Attend a Rock Concert - not the kind where you all sit nicely in seats - the kind where you all get squashed and sing and dance and go mad!!
The Great Yorkshire Show - this event has been something I have wanted to do for several years but I've never made it for one reason or another! This year I want to go and spend the day with my camera taking lots of fab photos!!
Lose a stone in weight and keep it off! This target has been set for many reasons but if I keep as active as this list suggests then I may have a chance of accomplishing the weight loss without too much difficulty and I could certainly use the energy!!
So, there it is! My first PoshPinkBlog entry!
I didn't plan it to be quite so long - in fact I didn't plan it at all!
You should always have a plan - if you have a target then at least you have some chance of getting somewhere close - if you have no target then how do you know where to aim?
Why not plan your own activity just for the hell of it?
...and when you have ... do tell!!
I'd love to hear your comments or observations so please click on 'comments' and tell me what you think!
Come back soon!
Diane :-)
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