It’s been raining for most of the week. I feel like I’ve been weeping for most of the week, over a really hard essay and a boy who lives in Aberdeen. Jenny has boy trouble, Milne has serious snow sickness, Nat’s college course isn’t quite living up to expectations. We’re all turning twenty three, and we still live with our parents. No-one has the professional jobs they promised us when we applied for uni. In short, we were a pretty miserable bunch that gathered in the classy establishment that is Bingley Wetherspoons last night.
But when we left, three hours and a lot of chat later, we were all smiling. Not only were we reassured that everyone else’s lives are rubbish too, but we had hatched a plan. Not the most original plan in the world, but we like it. So now, instead of spending our lives stressing out about what we haven’t got – houses, careers, boyfriends, balanced emotional states (or maybe that’s just me) – and worrying about how to get them, we’ll focus on what we have. And what that basically boils down to is a little bit money, quite a bit of spare time, very few commitments, and each other. And to make the most of these things, and generally be less depressed, and leave our respective houses more often, and spend less time in our pyjamas watching telly and eating crisps (again, maybe just me...) we wrote a list of all the exciting, interesting, and mainly different things that we could realistically (some more realistic than others) do together over the next year, or two, or however long we’re still all in the same place and the same situation for. This year, instead of sitting moaning in Spoons of a Thursday evening, we’re going to go rock climbing, wine tasting and speed dating. Weekends will be gainfully employed with cycling (when we find some bikes), roller blading, and ... cheese club (!). And all our adventures will be documented here, on facebook, and possibly youtube, if anyone remembers to bring a camera along.
Here's me, writing the list. I firmly believe in the power of a good list to improve any situation!
Here’s the list, by no means definitive, of things we wrote on the back of a receipt for deodorant in the pub, and a couple more I thought of on the way home. If you’ve any more ideas, please comment and let us know – we’re open to everything (though Milne’s not too keen on the speed dating idea...)!
1. Climbing
2. Surfing (on a holiday in Newquay – Mr Pauline watch out!)
3. Cycling (none o us have bikes, but I’m sure we could think of something)
4. Swimming
5. Book Club
6. Board Games (on days when it’s too rainy or we’re too lazy to go outside)
7. Film Club (like a normal night in, but with more intellectual discussion than ‘Daniel Craig is hot in this’ and ‘I hate Keira Knightley’)
8. Rowing (not that successful last time we tried it, but that was some time ago, and maybe we won’t take boys this time!)
9. Roller Blading
10. Golf
11. Zumba
12. Yoga
13. Cheese club
14. Geocaching
15. Photography
16. Skiing
17. Hiking (sounds more exciting than ‘go for a walk’)
18. Wine tasting
19. Something for charity (Race for Life perhaps. Though we all hate running with a passion. I went for a jog earlier, in the spirit of the plan. Thought I was going to be sick when I got home.)
20. Have a bake off (for which we would need a massive tent full of kitchens, and Mary Berry)
21. Pottery
22. Visit museums and art galleries
23. Go to the theatre
24. Go to see live music
25. Speed dating (Mr Milne’s idea, it’s a sorry state of affairs when your parents start suggesting you go speed dating!)
26. Camping
27. Ice Skating
28. Have a fake hen party.
29. Find a Husband has been crossed off the list – I think we decided it’s a bit ambitious, and we’re not exactly sure we want them anyway. But if anyone is interested...
