Like Ray, I'm happy with my lot Jan.

One of the things I do, that help me to sleep, is list three things down on paper that I am "grateful for". These can range from Chris, to our daughter and now our granddaughter, to things like heating and shelter and a nice cup of tea!

If I had to choose three today I would choose -
Living where I do in a lovely community and beautiful part of the world.
My family.
Health

Tomorrow it might be different

Of course we are happy with our lot, but there must be something you wish you had either learnt or done in your early life that would have either benefited you now or you´d now say "I´m glad I did that while I could".

I've altered the subject a bit haven´t I.

There are lots of things I would have liked to have done like ice skating or skiing, one thing I do regret is having to sell my lovely accordion 25 years ago, I had been learning to read music and play when I discovered I had arthritis in my spine and could no longer hold it. I might have been entertaining you now playing this

'IF' we still had all our savings that were taken we would still be RV ing stateside. But even that now brings problems as two friends are marooned in AZ and FL for the duration. And with hindsight we would have kept one or more property in UK tenanted.

Ray.

There's not a lot I wanted to do and didn't Jan, though I've always wished I could sing well. I will do it when I'm entirely alone, but never if I think I might be heard.

Jan,
The last book was about our trip to France, UK, Scotland and finally Ireland where we haven’t been before Here is a picture of a map I have in my study Marking all the countries we been to. Last count we made it to 89. Our ambition is 100 but in the Covid 19 world It seems unlikely.
If you are interested have a look at Blurb.com as the Books are all published there with free previews. You just need to search for cherryl Schmidt.

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I have the following things that are special to me and to be more than grateful for, in no particular order (apart from number 1 which is THE best thing ever in my life!)

Mrs Plodd
My health
My two children
My six grandchildren
Financial security that enables me to do many wonderful things.
My own home
Lovely neighbours
My circle of friends
My memories of my life so far.
The ability to communicate to anyone anywhere in the world
The mental capacity to see through those who treat me/us as a fools
The prospect of many more years of happiness
Oh and did I mention my wonderful wife of 43 years Annette? Thought so!

Andy

I Thought all Irish people could sing, so it is no it isn't. Whats wrong with you? You just have to believe you can sing, even if you cant. Then broadcast it to the world until they get sick of you.

I have done most of the things I wanted to do (most of them will be different to most people and nearly all of them fattening, illegal or immoral) but that just makes me depressed now.

I would have loved to play the piano. I could play the recorder (not the descant one but the slightly less irritating one).

I did learn to ride. That and owning horses would be one of my proudest achievements. Brought up on a council estate it was not very likely that I would end up as a house owner with land to keep my horses on. I loved every minute of those times. We took our horses to ride on the beach and would have cantered through the surf (a long held ambition) if the horse had not said "no way" " that water is moving"! We took them on a riding holiday in Kent where you stayed in a farmhouse where they fed you three meals a day and the horses stayed in their stables where they were groomed and led out for us to mount and ride away into the nearby forest! When we came back the groom took them away to feed and water and bed down. Luxury!
I bought my first pony, a foal, while I still lived at home on the council estate. I worked in Great Ormond Street childrens' hospital and the pony was kept at diy livery about nine miles from home. I had to get up at silly o-clock, catch a bus to the end of the country lane in Newbury Park, walk the rest, see to my pony's needs, catch the tube to Holburn, do a day's work, reverse the journey at night to check on the pony and make my way home! My boss at work lent me the money to buy the pony and I paid for all its care, gave my mum my keep, paid travel expenses etc all on £12 per week wages! All my friends thought I was stone raving mad (except my horsey friends who understood) and if any boyfriend mentioned selling the horse and buying a car instead he was history !
Other holidays, and adventures, followed and each time we moved it was to a property with a bit more land "for the horses". The houses were unimportant. One of them just had one cold tap. No bathroom, no heating. We moved in on January the 1st, Brrrr.

Its never too late to learn a musical instrument Pat and now is the perfect time. Get a keyboard off the internet, there are literally tons of free online resources and tools now. Youtube is full of them.

I bought a used midi keyboard synth last summer for twenty quid, plugged it into my PC and its DAW software and its been the best twenty quid I ever spent. Sounds amazing. Got a Mouth Organ (harp) for my birthday in February but Ive kind of given up on that for now. I got away with it reasonably quickly but its not a guitar or a synth is it? Do it!