31 tasks

A List Is Born

It was soon after the Clubbing trip to Ghent that I seriously considered the challenge of attempting to complete a set list of tasks, based around the millstone, sorry milestone, of the first year of my fourth decade.  Fittingly it was during a weekend spent celebrating the collective 30th birthdays of myself and two friends that an embryonic list began to take shape, and I soon realised the need to avoid excessive frivolity, but for the tasks to span a scale from charitable to hedonistic.  If I was going to take this seriously I would need some variety.

After completing my first 18 holes of golf for a decade, with Chris and Matt, the afore-mentioned new 30-somethings, I settled on the Golf challenge: break a total of 100 on an 18 hole golf course.  To many, that may seem distinctly unambitious, but bear in mind that my score on that cold, misty November day was 115.  I was looking to improve by almost a shot per hole. 

A good walk spoilt: my future?

On that day, I had, to be fair, some good holes but also a lot of rubbish in between.  So the aim is to remove the shanks, the scuffs and the topped irons that only made it into even deeper rough.  Consider also that this is just one of 31 tasks – look at the list as a whole and you’ll see the size of the challenge.  99 shots in 18 holes: 5.5 per hole.  Quite enough to be going on with.

The 10 year gap which had ended with that round of golf brought to mind more fundamental changes in my life.  I had been treading water in the unpredictable ocean of singledom after the end of a long relationship earlier this year.  I don’t intend to use this journal to write expansively about my private life, or for that matter my social, family or professional lives, unless it strictly applies to this challenge.  But my situation did give rise to the next task: Date – to encounter one of the more nerve-wracking social events, either the blind date or the speed date.  The outcome is unimportant (at least as far as this challenge goes), going on the date will complete the task.

The final task to make it on to the very earliest draft is the task of Duck – prepare a whole Chinese aromatic roast duck in the most authentic way possible, within the limitations of a conventional domestic kitchen.

Duck: why god gave us mouths.

A former colleague once described the combination of crispy duck on a thin, dry pancake with thick plum sauce and shredded cucumber and spring onion as the single finest mouthful of food one can encounter.  And I still agree.  I have seen recipes that involve many hours of marinading, steaming and cooling, but I intend to do my research and look forward to presenting the fruits to a hand-picked selection of guests.