Bucket List
(In no particular order)
- Write and publish at least one novel
- Buy a Ferrari
- Buy and ride a powerful motorcycle
- Complete my BA, MA and PhD
- Learn enough Spanish to be able to read Don Quixote in the original Early Modern Spanish.
- Learn some Arabic.
UNITED KINGDOM
- England: Drive round the M25 (the London ring road) doing a complete circuit clockwise then anticlockwise. The best time to do this would probably be 4am on the Sunday closest to 21st June, the summer solstice, which would be dawn and thus daylight, and there would be little traffic. I look forward to doing this in my Ferrari that I bought with the proceeds of a book sale. Stop for breakfast at a suitable hotel. There are plenty nearby.
- England: Visit Anderitum Roman fort, Pevensey, East Sussex.
- England: See HMS Alliance - A-class submarine launched 1945 - Royal Navy Submarine Museum, Gosport, Hampshire.
- England: Visit the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London.
- England: Visit Portchester Castle, a Roman castle on the south coast near Portsmouth.
- England: See U-534 Type IX U-Boot, Woodside Ferry Terminal, Merseyside.
- England: Walk around the walls of Maiden Castle in Dorset one last time.
- England: Visit Burgh Castle in Norfolk near Caister.
- England: Visit Dove Bridge, River Dove, border of Staffs and Derbyshire - a mediaeval bridge.
- England: Visit Lichfield Cathedral, Lichfield, Staffordshire. The only English mediaeval cathedral with three spires. Also the Lady Chapel has mediaeval Flemish stained glass.
- England: Visit Hardwick Hall, Doe Lea, Derbyshire - near Junction 29 of the M1 motorway - Elizabethan "prodigy house" built in the 1590s.
- England: Visit Southwell Minster - Southwell, Nottinghamshire - 12th and 13th Century cathedral.
- England: Visit Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor on the border of Cornwall and Devon.
- England: Have a cream tea with scones in Cornwall and again in Devon.
- England: Visit Padstow in Cornwall - a very popular little port village - Rick Stein and Paul Ainsworth have celebrity restaurants there - avoid the height of summer and weekends when it can be very crowded.
- England: Attend the Hay-on-Wye book festival - promote my own books!
- England: See the Tamar Valley, Devon and Cornwall - a beautiful river valley with a scenic railway line running through it.
- England: Visit Reading Abbey ruins.
- England: Visit Stanwick Iron Age hillfort.
- England: Visit Hampton Court Castle near Leominster.
- England: Visit Cheddar Gorge in Somerset.
- England: Visit Stow-on-the-Wold in Gloucestershire famous for its antique shops.
- England: Visit Leicester Cathedral and the grave of King Richard III.
- England: Visit Eggardon Hill, Dorset, an Iron Age hillfort.
- England: Visit Dorney Court, Dorney, Buckinghamshire - a 15th Century brick manor house in excellent condition - used for filming "Sad Cypress" with David Suchet playing Poirot.
- England: Visit Mount Saint Michael in Cornwall in the same week as Mont Saint Michel in France. Drive between the two in my Ferrari taking a ferry from Cherbourg to England, as far west as possible.
- England: Visit the Isle of Grain in Kent. Stay at the Clarendon Hotel in Gravesend.
- Wales: Visit Pembrokeshire.
- Scotland: Ride on the Fort William to Mallaig railway line (West Highland Line) - runs from the mountains to the sea.
OTHER COUNTRIES
- Australia: Drive along the New England Highway.
- Australia: See Darling Harbour ship museum and the O class submarine.
- Australia: Walk to the highest point of Barrington Tops in NSW - Brumlow Top 1,586 metres.
- Australia: Visit the Central Coast dams in New South Wales, there are three.
- Australia: See a film at Avoca Beach Theatre - a cinema.
- Australia: Walk the Bouddi coastal walks, several different tracks through the National Park - take stout walking shoes, food, water and a hat.
- Australia: Visit the Australian Reptile Park - Pacific Highway, Somersby, south of Kariong.
- Australia: Walk through Wyrrabalong National Park - on the road between Noraville and The Entrance.
- Australia: Visit the maritime museum at Darling Harbour in Sydney.
- Australia: Visit the RAAF museum at Williamstown, north of Newcastle, New South Wales.
- Australia: Visit the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum, Cairns, QLD - has several German tanks including two Tigers and four or five Panzer IVs.
- Australia: Explore La Perouse in Sydney including the island fort.
- Australia: Buy and drive a Holden Commodore SS V six-litre V8 six-speed manual.
- Australia: Buy a house next to Anthony Albanese in Copacabana.
- Croatia: See Pula Arena, Pula - an ancient Roman arena.
- Croatia: Visit the ancient walled city of Dubrovnik.
- Egypt: See the great pyramids at Giza.
- France: Drive round the Circuit de la Sarthe in my Ferrari. This is the public road circuit used for the Le Mans 24 Hours race each year. I’ve already driven round Mt Panorama and Amaroo Park plus several other tracks so I don’t need to do those again.
- France: Attend the Le Mans 24 Hours.
- France: Visit Mont Saint Michel in Normandy then Mount Saint Michael in Cornwall in the same week - drive between the two in my Ferrari taking a ferry from Cherbourg to England, as far west as possible.
- France: Visit Corsica.
- France: See where the Pyrenees meet the sea at the Atlantic and Mediterranean ends.
- Germany: See the “Wilhelm Bauer”, the only surviving Type XX1 U-Boot, Bremerhaven.
- Germany: Visit the annual Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse) – the world’s largest trade fair for books held at Messe Frankfurt over five days in mid-October.
- Germany: Visit the Berlin Egyptian Museum and Berlin Papyrus Museum, both at the Neues Museum on Museum Island in Berlin.
- Germany: Visit Lake Constance (Bodensee) and Mainau Island. Famous for its gardens.
- Greece: See the Acropolis in Athens - try and get the same photo as dad took of mum in 1953.
- Iran: Visit Abadan oil refinery, where my father used to work, if it is ever peaceful enough. There are violent protests going on there right now.
- Israel: See the ancient copper mines of Timna (near Eilat).
- Israel: Climb to the top of Masada and see the sunrise - again.
- Israel: Visit the ancient ruins of Jericho.
- Italy: Visit Sardinia.
- Italy: Ski in Sauze d'Oulx again.
- Japan: Go skiing in Japan.
- Jordan: See the ancient city of Petra.
- Jordan: Visit the Jordan Museum, Ras Al-Ein, Amman.
- Kuwait: Visit Ahmadi oil refinery. This is where my parents got married in 1953.
- New Zealand: Visit the New Zealand Alps on the South Island. Go skiing there.
- Spain: See the Tower of Hercules in A Coruña, an ancient Roman lighthouse.
- Spain: See Murcia for the history, the weather and the food.
- Spain: Visit the Balearic Islands – Majorca (Mallorca – the largest island), Minorca (Menorca), Ibiza, Formentera, Cabrera and several very small islands.
- Tanzania: Climb to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania - 5,895 metres
- Turkey: Visit Santa Sophia in Istanbul.
- Turkey: Visit Mount Ararat in the east, 5,137m high.
- USA: Visit San Francisco in California.
- USA: See U-505 Type IX U-Boot, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago.
- USA: See the USS Nautilus - on display in Connecticut. The first ever nuclear-powered submarine.
- USA: Drive to the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado, 4,302m high. Attend the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb - 20km, 156 turns, 1,440m climb.
- Yemen: Visit Aden oil refinery, if it is ever peaceful, enough. There is a war going on there right now.