This post is a few weeks overdue as life has been even more hectic than usual but a recent ‘big’ birthday was time for reflection. Having very nearly completed my memories of my life up until now, there has been a great deal of looking back. I’ve been working on this for twelve years, since I attempted to keep up alongside the lovely group of ladies who helped me to produce Remember Then: memories of 1946-1969 and how to write your own. Since then, I have helped several more groups, each time vowing and failing, to keep up but making a little more progress each time. My most recent attempt was with the Write your Life Story group  that I lead for the Society of Genealogists. This time I so very nearly made it. I hoped to have it completed for my birthday but I am just half a chapter short. I am 410 pages and over 114,000 words in. I can’t imagine anyone will want to read it but it has been fun and important to do. Some of it, with redactions, is on my Granny’s Tales site. Having said that no one will read it, people clearly have nothing better to do, I have had positive feedback from those who grew up where I did, or who went to the same schools as me. Our personal history overlaps with the history of others, so our memories have a relevance for local and social historians, with the caveat that memory can be flawed. The series of monthly Monday afternoon online sessions with the Society of Genealogists starts again in June if you want to join the fun.

In the course of looking back I got diverted down a rabbit hole when my daughter alerted me to some free ‘Travel Visualiser’ software that allow you to map which British counties you’ve lived in, stayed in and visited. About twenty years ago, inspired by an American friend who was trying to spend a few days every US state, we decided we’d do the same for English counties. For the first few years, this was a concerted effort then it drifted into abeyance, although were continuing to add counties by default. This is my map so far. I have been very conservative about where I’ve stayed. If I’ve just stayed for a weekend conference and not looked at the surrounding area, I haven’t included it as stayed. Equally, I haven’t included a couple of counties where I stayed as a child but only went to the beach. It is also really hard to work out where you’ve passed through.

This then led to me wondering how many National Trust, English Heritage and other tourist attractions I’d visited. I refused to re-read 57 diaries again so this depended on photo albums and the holiday diaries I’ve kept in more recent years, as well as looking at my collection of guide books, which I no longer add to. I’ve probably missed a few. I use a total of 40 English Counties as I include the Isle of Wight separately. Counting just properties, rather including than countryside, my total so far is 74 National Trust properties in 29 counties and 47 English Heritage sites in 22 counties, with particularly good coverage of Cornwall, Devon, the Isle of Wight and Northumberland. I can also tick off a total of 43 Isle of Wight tourist attractions, quite a few of which are no longer open.

I am proud of what I have achieved in the last *0 years. There has been joy and sadness but I am very much a glass half full person. Yes I have regrets but I aim to have as few as possible going forward (there’s a song in that somewhere). Aware that I am now on borrowed time and my body will already no longer allow me to do quite as much as I used to, I am cramming in as much as I can, while I can. There definitely needs to be a sequel to the story of my first *0 years. Apart from the Norwegian cruise and the family visit to Centre Parcs, which were part of the birthday celebrations, recent weeks have included a whirlwind family history based week away and an extended family reunion weekend. No wonder this post is delayed.

In the interest of bucket list ticking, I arranged to go riding on the beach up the road, as a birthday present to myself. The local stables do this regularly and I quite fancied having a go. Never mind the fact that I’ve only ridden once since I was seventeen. A friend said ‘did you canter?’ Canter? She jests; I was going as slowly as possible and clinging on for grim death like a tenacious limpet. As I didn’t want to go faster than very slowly I had to book a whole ride, which would usually be for several people, to myself. The weather was very windy and drizzly, which was a shame and horses seem to sway a lot more than they used to. I had a large but placid mount who belied the name Spirit. The staff at Follyfoot Stables were fantastic and took loads of photos which display varying degrees of me looking wet, cold and petrified. I was slightly concerned, as it was very expensive because I was paying for a solo session (which would have been good value per person for six people), that I might love it so much that I’d want to make this a regular thing. Fortunately, it was just that little bit too scary. I was very glad that I did it but once was enough and I am quite content to hang up my riding boots (I don’t actually have any riding boots) forever.

Reaching *0 is a privilege not granted to all and I am determined to ‘seize the day’ and make the most of the time I have left. Looking forward, there more to do while I still can. We are off to the Fisherman’s Friends Festival shortly. Festival-going is also something I’ve not done since my teens. Not looking forward to the 11pm finishes but hey. More caravanning in order to tick off a few more counties is in the diary for later this year. I’ve arranged to go to Iceland and there’s a couple more overseas places I’d like to visit. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ve probably left it too late for Madagascar. I want to see as much of my nearest and not so near dearest as I possibly can and I’ve been on a mission to catch up with as many old friends as possible. I send about eighty Christmas cards each year and some of the people I have not seen for decades. I am therefore on a quest to remedy this if possible and I am having my photo taken with them as I go, so that I can create an album.

I’ve taken on a small additional role for the job we must not mention, so hope to continue with that for a few more years. I am carrying on giving talks hither and yon, mostly online. In a way, I’d like more free evenings but then I think, yes I can do another one. I really must learn that when ‘no’ is in my head, ‘yes’ should not come out of my mouth. This applies to more than just talks. There are family history stories still to be told and I am toying with the idea of another postgraduate qualification. If successful, this would mean that I had one from universities in England, Ireland and Scotland. I am still determined to get back to spinning (the textile kind not the extreme gym activity). I definitely want to make more of living where I do and not suddenly realise that the summer is over and I’ve barely seen the sea. I am trying to cut down on some of my voluntary roles so that I have time to just relax, when I discover what that is.