30 things. 

My laptop failed last week. Refused to boot up. Dead. I did everything I could to revive it without success – and eventually reluctantly decided that it would have to be replaced. I spent a few days in indecision. Should I buy a new Windows-based laptop? A Chromebook? A MacBook? Or should I try to manage without one and use my under-utilised iPad instead? 

I’m trying to go down the iPad route. I’ve hit a few problems (like to inability to run SQL under IOS – IT geeks will understand), but the biggest difficulty was transferring all my old spreadsheets and documents. I had backup copies in cloud storage, and with the aid of a borrowed laptop I managed to get them downloaded, converted from MSOffice to Open Source, re-uploaded to Cloud, then downloaded to iPad as Open Source and converted to IOS. Simples!

As part of this process, I had to open each file. Some recent and regularly accessed, while others had not been opened for 15 years or more! And among them (trust me – I’m getting to the point) I found the following. Someone on another blog-site I used to use posed the question “What 25 things have shaped the person you are today?”. I couldn’t get the list down to 25, so here instead are my 30 “things that shaped me”.

I have:

bumped into Prince Charles (literally)

found an unexploded WW2 shell in Normandy

spent a night in the cells (Bournemouth 1968)

met Margaret Thatcher

survived a heart-attack

driven a JCB

ridden a motorcycle at 120mph

been trapped in a snowdrift

survived a Deep Vein Thrombosis

stood at the Menin Gate and wept

ridden every roller-coaster in Orlando

been in a rollover accident

driven from Miami to Key West in an open-topped car

sniffed cocaine legally (as an anaesthetic)

gained a B.A. Degree with the Open University

found a dead person at a bus-stop

learned to swim aged 46

been a Company Director

been a carpet-fitter

restored a classic Lambretta motor-scooter

heard Pope John Paul’s address in St Peter’s Square

met Vincent Furnier (“Alice Cooper”)

witnessed an armed-robbery

been a Mod (remember them?)

bought a sextant off eBay and learned how to use it

been arrested at gunpoint by gendarmes (mistaken identity)

had a 20-year beard shaved off publicly for charity

been part of a crowd dispersed by police with a water-cannon

seen The Dubliners live in Dublin

driven a Sinclair C5.

So that’s my list – what’s yours?