personal, ramblings

What I Did Done

Sometime in early August, Emma Beddington wrote an article in the Guardian under the title Ignore those lists of goals to hit by age 30 – here’s what you should have done by 47.

Well I’m a bit past worrying about either 30 or 47, but it did get me thinking. I wonder what achievements and landmarks I managed in each decade of my life so far? Well here’s a list. It’s all a bit frightening really, when written down like this …

0 to 10

  • Entered the world and was healthy
  • Learnt to read, write, do arithmetic
  • Learnt to ride a bike
  • Learnt to swim
  • Introduced to nudism
  • Introduced to lightweight camping

10 to 20

  • Passed 11+
  • Sung in school choir (including Messiah, Benjamin Britten’s St Nicholas, and HMS Pinafore; also at St Paul’s Cathedral)
  • Scout troop leader
  • Visited the Lake District with school (twice), and Scotland with scouts (twice)
  • School prize for A-levels
  • Went to university to study chemistry
  • Learnt computer programming
  • Played cricket and hockey for school & university
  • Treasurer, and briefly Chairman, of university radio station
  • Broken engagement

20 to 30

  • Somehow got a BA, MSc & PhD
  • Representative on various staff/student committees & similar
  • Resident Tutor
  • Met Prof. Sir George Porter (Nobel Laureate) at Royal Institution
  • Converted to Catholicism and lapsed
  • 3rd XI club cricket captain
  • Learnt to umpire cricket, properly (but never bothered to take the exams)
  • Met my handful of most influential friends
  • Unemployed for 3 months
  • Permanent job (at IBM)
  • School governor
  • Organised a tour for my cricket club
  • Finally moved away from home
  • Got my own rented flat
  • Appendix removed and a summer off work
  • Married

30 to 40

  • Bought the house
  • Got our first cats
  • Organised a tour for a different cricket club
  • Had a summer off work with glandular fever
  • Had an affair

40 to 50

50 to 60

  • Father died
  • Started this blog
  • Retired (from IBM)
  • Silver wedding
  • Conducted the funeral of a friend; gave the eulogy at her husband’s funeral two years later
  • Got a piercing (don’t ask, TMIA)
  • Visited USA
  • Ran five Anthony Powell international conferences
  • Had Sunday Lunch at the Ritz
  • Visited Eton College; and Balliol College, Oxford
  • Met Ian Rankin and Tariq Ali
  • Attended the Service of the Most Noble Order of the Garter in St George’s Chapel, Windsor
  • Diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnoea and Type 2 Diabetes

60 to 70

  • Mother died
  • Became a state registered geriatric
  • Met the Earl of Gowrie; and Lady Antonia Fraser
  • Ran another four Anthony Powell international conferences
  • Had formal dinner (and informal lunch) in Masters Common Room of Eton College
  • Stood down as Secretary & Trustee of Anthony Powell Society after 18 years
  • Involved in founding GP’s patient group; appointed Chairman
  • Published (privately) a book of photographs
  • Bilateral knee replacements
  • Ruby Wedding
  • Attended Buckingham Palace Garden Party

Over 70

  • Appointed to my local council’s Community Review Panel

That includes a number of things I never dreamt I’d do, like visiting Eton College (and drinking their champagne); meeting an Earl who was also a former Cabinet minister; dining at the Ritz; attending a Buckingham Palace Garden Party.

So even if I exclude the things we all do – like reading, writing and losing parents – that’s still a somewhat mind-boggling list for a mediocre grammar school boy!

However I don’t really feel it is exceptional. Mostly because I’ve drifted; I’ve gone where the wind took me; none of this was a pre-planned long-term objective, because I’ve never had a life (or career) plan. I’ve done what was there at the time. If you’d asked me at 11, 18, or even 21, I couldn’t have predicted any of this (except the very obvious). And I find that somewhat scary.