Stuff on my bucket list

This topic from Long and Short Reviews was an interesting one. I am the kind of person who adds stuff to my bucket list all the time - I'm always wanting to try new things. So I could be here all day listing stuff I want to do, but to spare everyone I'll narrow it down to a few.

Go up in a glider. I've always loved flying as long as it's not in a commercial plane (I do hate all the messing about at airports) but have never been up in a glider, although I've been up in a hot air balloon. There's something very peaceful about being up in the air.

Visit Iceland. It's always been ruled off our holiday list as being too expensive, but since my sister-in-law went a few years ago I've wanted to go. I'd love to see the Northern Lights.

Dinner on the Orient Express. This one is potentially easier as voucher companies have this all the time. It's only the getting there that has put me off. I love Agatha Christie, so the idea of going on the Orient Express - even within the UK - thrills me.

Write for Harlequin. I've looked into this one more since they started their Dare line, but so far have been put off by the long list of requirements. However, I may get there in the end.

So what's on your list?

Things I collect

Looking at this topic from Long and Short Reviews, there was only really one answer to give. I've been a collector of a lot of things over the years - I used to collect keyrings as a child, and had a huge bunch of them before I was forced to throw them out when I left home - but I have one thing in particular I've been collecting for the last few years.

Autographs. Occasionally via eBay, but primarily through writing to celebrities.

The above is one of my Holy Grails. Gene Wilder was well known for being difficult to get unless you jumped through certain hoops - you had to provide your own photo, mention more than one thing you'd seen him in (no hardship there, I loved his work) and add that you knew he was a very busy man, otherwise you'd get a pre-print and a note about how he was too busy to sign. I managed to get it right, and the above picture was the result.

I have also bought autographs by way of celebrities' websites, such as the Felissa Rose one above. These are better than going via eBay since you can pretty much guarantee they're genuine and you can also get them personalised, which is a win for me since I'm never going to sell them.

So what do you collect?

A project or hobby of mine inspired by a book

This topic from Long and Short Reviews was an interesting one. I couldn't think of any interest of mine that had been inspired by a book. There was, however, an interest which had been revived, if you will, by a book - that book being The American Presidents Without The Boring Bits.

As a teenager I was fixated with the USA. I would spend hours poring over world atlases and an enormous dictionary my dad had bought because it had all the presidents in the back, memorising state capitals and presidents and anything else I could come up with. I fully intended to emigrate and get my green card as soon as I finished university, so I figured I needed all the information I could get.

However, life happened, and here I am still in the UK. I happened upon the above book, bought it, and found myself fascinated by the USA all over again. I no longer have plans to emigrate (I'd be lost without the NHS) but my retro-Americana is all over the house and I can still remember all the state capitals. Well, nearly. I still get the Dakotas and Carolinas mixed up.

So what about you?

The last place I travelled to and why

This topic from Long and Short Reviews made me smile.

Ah, travel. After so many weeks in lockdown I feel like I've forgotten what that's like. I haven't gone further than the supermarket lately, and my holiday was of course cancelled. So where was the last place I travelled to?

Stratford-upon-Avon.

It's one of my ambitions to see every Shakespeare play in the theatre at least once, and where would be better than the Royal Shakespeare Theatre? So I drove four and a half hours (I can see Americans laughing at my thinking that that's a long way) to Stratford-upon-Avon to see King John.

It was an amazing play, despite being seated next to a man who put his legs in two different counties, and Stratford is a beautiful town. I got there early so had plenty of time to look around and relax in the park.

So where was the last place you travelled to?