This blog is the one-stop shop for all the completed “things” on my list. Individual blogs can be found from the Breakfast Show Blog Top Page but if you’ve stumbled upon this “idea” for the first time, you are in the right place to find out all about what on Earth I am doing…

Welcome one and welcome all to 2014!!!

And would you look at that. According to the Back To The Future movies we’ll have hover-boards next year. Cooool.

Now I realised something over the Christmas/New Year period. As much as I have amassed quite a plethora of adventures and tales to tell my children and my children’s children and, if I live long enough, my children’s children’s children, there are a few things that I am yet to tick off my life’s “Bucket List” if you will. And that’s what I plan to do, with your help.

As part of the show in 2014 I endeavour to complete a list of 50 things that I have NEVER done before. Some will be obvious, others might seem simple and a few will make you question whether or not I have lived under a rock all of my life, but they are all absolutely and honestly things I have never done in my 27 years, or so, on this third rock from the Sun.

It will all start on Wednesday the 8th of January giving us one week to discuss the list before setting off on the first “thing”. 50 weeks, 50 things, 1-a-week (although the plan is it not necessarily to do one thing each week as some will take some serious thought and planning and others I’ll be able to complete, hopefully, in just a few hours) so by the end of the year, it’ll leave us with one week from Christmas Eve to New Year 2015 to round-up and summarise the list.

I plan to document the whole escapade in photo and video form as much as possible so as to share with you the results of each challenge and an overview from the whole year at the end. I will update this blog as and when things are completed but you can also keep track of how I’m doing by heading here.

So what’s on the list?? (And remember, these are all genuinely things I have never done but by 2015 will hope to have. And they are arranged alphabetically because it looks prettier, not because that’s order I want to do them in.)

1.  Beat Steve Davis At Snooker
2.  Break A World Record
3.  Buy A House
4.  Buy A Tailored Suit
5.  Carve A Pumpkin
6.  Climb A Mountain
7.  Complete A Rubix Cube √
8.  Conduct An Orchestra
9.  Drive A Tractor
10.  Feed A Zoo Animal
11.  Find A Four-Leaf Clover
12.  Find My Doppelganger
13.  Fly A Hawk
14.  Get A Piercing
15.  Get Cream Pie’d
16.  Get Mentioned In A National Newspaper
17.  Get My Car Washed In A Drive-In Car Wash
18.  Give Blood
19.  Go To A Book Signing √
20.  Go To A Festival
21.  Go To A Murder Mystery Dinner
22.  Host a 24 Hour Radio Show
23.  Learn A New Instrument
24.  Learn To Dance
25.  Perform A Stand-Up Set
26.  Plant A Tree
27.  Play A Part In A Musical
28.  Pull A Pint In A Pub
29.  Ride A Horse
30.  Ride A Segway
31.  Ride A Tandem Bicycle
32.  Ride An Open-Top Bus In London
33.  Scuba Dive
34.  Send A Message In A Bottle
35.  Shoot A Gun
36.  Sky Dive
37.  Spend The Night In A Treehouse
38.  Stilt Walking
39.  Walk On Fire
40.  Write A Children’s Book
41.  Wear A Pregnancy Belly for a Day (Liz)
42.  Host Story Time (Ruth)
43.  Perform As A Living Statue (Michelle)
44.  Kiteboarding (Philly)
45.  Be An Extra (Richard)
46.  Book The Most Expensive Room In A Hotel (Nic) √
47.  Get Chased By A Police Dog (Sally)
48.  Walk Hadrian’s Wall (Kyle)
49.  Drive A Steam Train (Alec)
50.  Complete A Cross Stitch (Becky)

I have listed 40 of the “things” and the other 10 “things” have been suggested by the people who’s names are in brackets (hopefully that was obvious enough but I don’t like to assume).

Now I had loooaads of great suggestions from lots of people and I want to take this opportunity to thank you if you made one. If I didn’t add your suggestion, I apologise but I had to draw the line somewhere otherwise it would have quickly become the #12597ThingsRobHasntDoneYet and it may have actually become a “Bucket List”.

But remember, if you want to join me on one/some/all of these quests, then I’d be more than happy to make this happen.

Ready??

Here goes nothing…

Completed Quests

No.46 Book The Most Expensive Room In A Hotel (Nicola) – Complete

Yep, that’s right. Under a week in to the challenge and I have already ticked off the first “thing” from the list.

It was in fact the one suggested by my fiancée, and before you roll your eyes and mutter, “under the thumb”, it was just a coincidence that the one I completed first happened to be her suggestion but either way, it is done.

And what an experience it was. A TV at the end of the bath, a shower with those massage jet thingys, a King Size bed, another TV at the end of that, 2x sofas, yeah not just one, but 2!! I sat on them both for at least 15 minutes just to feel like I’d used them. Standard tea and coffee facilities which I happily used up!! A huge desk which I sat reading the provided literature (I can’t remember what it was, I wasn’t really paying attention), a hair-dryer in the bathroom (just because I could) and I used all 3 of the towel rails. Yes I’m an idiot.

The other thing that comes with booking “the best suite in the hotel sir” is that you get treated a little differently. Now it does sound a little wrong, but when you’re paying for their top room, people look past the face value opinion they have of you (and you should have seen the guys face when I told him I had the Wingfield Suite, hahaha) because of money which is wrong but sod it, it was bloody marvellous!!

(A panoramic shot of the L shaped suite. See, I told you it had 2 sofas!!)

I would recommend it to anyone. Of course, what I’ve essentially done is paid waaay too much for a room that all I did essentially was wash and sleep in but it was a very good wash and a very good sleep!!

No. 19 Go To A Book Signing

Yep!! 2 down!! 48 to go!! I have my copy of Charles Phillips’ The Story of Billericay, and I have it signed!!

I’m not entirely sure what I expected from a Book Signing but I think in my head it was going to be like going to a music gig. Now I know that sounds daft but when you think about it they’re kind of similar.

When a band/artist writes a new album, they go on tour and they show off their new material. When an author writes a new book, they do book signings. See!! Not as daft a comment as you first thought eh??

So yeah, it wasn’t quite the big shiny, flashing lights, long queues thing I somehow managed to persuade myself it would be. Firstly, Charles isn’t a famous celebrity. And secondly, his book is not an International Bestseller. And before you start thinking I’m putting Charles or his book down, I’m not. I’m going to cherish this book and I am going to read it. As I’ve said, probably a million times already this year, I’ve never met the author of a book and had them sign my copy of it to me before, so this is special. Whether you know the author personally or not, I think it’s a lovely way to show them that you care about their work.

Having not read it yet and having only met him a few hours ago, I can tell that this book is going to have a lot of love in it. A man with a real passion for the subject at hand.

Would I recommend going to a book signing?? Absolutely!!! Whether it’s Morrissey’s Autobiography, the next J.K. Rowling or even a friend of yours that’s written a children’s book, go!!!

I’d like to thank Charles for firstly writing this book, secondly hosting a signing session and thirdly taking 5 minutes of his time to talk to me about Billericay (and also a bit about Holland too). If you would like to get yourself a copy of ‘The Story of Billericay’ you can pick up a copy from the WHSmiths in Billericay (I asked them so I know) or you can order a physical copy online from Waterstones, Amazon or WHSmith. You can also order eBook versions for your iPads and Kindles too.

No.7  Complete A Rubik’s Cube

That’s right!!!

This time last week, while sat about 10 feet to my left, I completed a Rubik’s Cube. But, not content with the lack of proof I provided, I decided to do it again, on camera…

Now bear in mind that I have only ever done this once in my entire life AND it did take me near on 2 weeks of trying to finish it. So you would have thought that I’d have chosen a nice quiet environment with no distractions to do it on camera for wouldn’t you…

Yeah, I may have used instructions on the Rubiks website but so what!? I think this re-enforces the addition of #JustAsk. Sometimes by just asking for a little help we can actually do the things that sometimes seem impossible!!!

3 down, 47 to go.

Remember to check back soon to see how it’s all going.

R