I’ve given a lot of thought to how I want
to celebrate my 60th birthday.
I know that sounds like it’s some distant, future event, but I have to
confess that it was earlier this year.
True to form, I haven’t really done anything about it yet – apart from
think about it with varying degrees of mild depression and strong disbelief.
I don’t like parties. {The only reason to go to a party is in order to get off with someone
new – and since I have no need or desire to do that, the whole, getting dressed
up, putting on shoes and talking to people thing seems a bit pointless, and nothing
like a celebration.} I do enjoy a
nice meal or even just a drink {quiet or
otherwise!} at home with my family and friends, but we do that fairly often
anyway; on this occasion I want something a bit different.
I really want to do something significant,
memorable and a little bit mad. But,
despite the fact that my nearest and dearest have been listening for years to
me rambling on about wanting to walk the entire length of Hadrian’s Wall, it
took me a while to realise that I now have the ideal opportunity, and no excuse
to put it off any longer. It’s all
booked, and I’m going in a few weeks’ time.
Walking for six days, reflecting on the last sixty years.
Picture: Hadrian's Wall Sunset © Paul McGreevy. (Text added by Val Ross)
Licenced for re-use under this Creative Commons licence.
The obvious {and conventional} thing would be to do it as a sponsored
walk. But I need to know that if for
some reason I can’t complete it, I won’t be letting anyone down. Also, I’m not very keen on the whole idea of
asking people to give money to charity just because I’m doing something that I
enjoy – after all, you wouldn’t pay out for me to sit in a nice warm bubble
bath, eating buns, would you? Not unless
photos were involved, anyway. {And
possibly not even then.} If you feel
inspired to give to a charity that I support, then I’d suggest you take your
pick from Refuge, RNLI or Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue. Which, if you take a philosophical viewpoint,
all do more or less the same thing.
I’d
love to say that I’ll post daily updates of my walk on Facebook, but I’ll
probably just be lying in the bath, weakly nibbling buns.
{Yes, I know it's a muffin. But I can't draw buns that look in the least bit appetizing.}
