Hot yoga and bread

I’ve had some emails recently asking about the project, the book and life in general. God knows why, people must be bored with all this incredibly annoying sunshine and warmth. But it made me realise that perhaps I should keep things going on the blog for a while until the book comes out (IF it [...]

The new things continue…

Six weeks into the new year and the 52 New Things project refuses to die. In many ways, it ended on 31 December 2010 with the decision to write a book. However the philosophy behind the project has become unshakeable and I’ve found myself irresistibly drawn towards new experiences, like Justin Beiber to hair straighteners. New things, [...]

Award nomination!

Four days after saying I wouldn’t be posting any more news, an email lands in my inbox which more than warrants a few words. I’ve been informed this morning that some lovely people somewhere have nominated the project in the JustGiving Awards 2011 under the Most Creative Fundraiser category.
Not only that but it has been [...]

New Thing #52 – Write a book

And so to the post that I can’t quite believe I’m writing. Just over a year to the day since I launched the 52 New Things project I find myself on the final post, bringing to a close a year of fun, frights and firsts. I’ve just read back over the first few blogs I [...]

New Thing #51 – Eat some ham

OK, this one will require a bit of explaining. From the title, you might be thinking “Eat ham? Well that’s not very hard. Have I really invested a year in reading this blog, only for him to test my patience and intelligence with a pathetic little meat-eating attempt as his penultimate thing? Because that’s just [...]

New Thing #50 – Challenge a preconceived idea

Misgivings about the coalition government; watching Harry Potter films; downing a yard of ale at university; trying to eat an 18″ pizza at 3am; calling a transvestite ”not bad”……these are all things that I knew to be wrong and was subsequently proved to be right.
There are, of course, hosts of others but I presume that I am [...]

Christmas Single – We charted! (sort of)

As Christmas Day hurtles towards us with all the inevitability of a James Cordon Christmas Special, I wanted to use this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who participated in, helped with, contributed to and bought the 52 New Things Christmas Single – “Christmas Day TV”.
I wish I could be writing this from backstage [...]

52 New Things: “Christmas Day TV” – BUY IT NOW!

UPDATE! We’re on Amazon now too! Just head here: http://amzn.to/XmasDayTV-Amazon
Today sees the 52 New Things project reach something of a pinnacle: I am formally releasing my first ever song: The 52 New Things Charity Christmas Single which I hope will hit 52 in the charts and raise £5,200 for the Alzheimer’s Society.
52 New Things – [...]

New Thing #45 – Glass walking

Special thanks for this New Thing go to:
The Cannizaro House Hotel in Wimbledon and the Forge Restaurant in Covent Garden for supplying the 62 empty champagne bottles between them.
Clare Elcombe for taking her life and mine into her own hands and teaching me the ways of Glass Walking. If you’d like to be taught, drop Clare a [...]

New Thing #46 – Attempt to break a world record

UPDATE: Technological problems means New Thing #45 – Glass walking will be coming next week. Damn computers.
Have you any idea what stuffing three cream crackers into your mouth, one after another, feels like? It’s like trying to read one of Katie Price’s books – turgid, dry and ultimately a complete waste of time. Neither [...]

The 52NT Christmas Single – Recording!

Last night the 52 New Things project realised a life-long dream and entered the recording studio to lay down a Christmas song. A makeshift band of volunteers, professional musicians, family members and me arrived at a small recording studio in Bow having never been in the same room together before. We’d learnt our lyrics and [...]

Fellow Adventurists…Heed my call!

HELP A RALLIER GET TO NUMBER 52 IN THE CHRISTMAS CHARTS AND RAISE £5,200 FOR CHARITY!
In the summer of 2008, two good friends and I drove a clapped out old black taxi from London to Mongolia as part of the epic Mongol Rally. As team Do You Do Airports? we managed to take it [...]

New Thing #44 – 7 days of new food

After a truly manic couple of weeks in New Thing land, I’m finally able to post up some of the activities I’ve been up since the beginning of November. First up is the 7 Days of New Food project.
A while back I was approached by a lovely woman called Fiona who had this inkling of [...]

New foods and Christmas songs

A quick update before a very busy weekend. The 7 days of new food project has progressed well and I have eaten some truly fantastic new foods. Highlights have included Kiwiberries, Impala and Hong Kong Waffles. Of course, there have been some disasters as well and the less said about the crab-flavoured seafood sticks the [...]

7 days of new food

As previously reported this is going to be a huge week in 52NT land, with record attempts and glass walking planned for the weekend, but more on those later in the week. For now, it’s all about the new foods.
I was contacted by a lovely woman called Fiona who suggested I join her in a [...]

The Christmas Single – Lyrics done!

It has been a busy week in 52 New Things land as the Christmas Single goes from a drunken idea to an earth-shattering reality. The big news is that after a long weekend of booze-inspired scribbling, we have some lyrics. Now granted they are fairly pony and would make a kindergarten child look like Bob [...]

New Thing #43 – Champions League football at White Hart Lane

A truly personal new thing this week as I manage to fulfil a lifetime’s ambition thanks to a stroke of online luck. A small warning though, it’s footballing related so I’ll try and keep it short and sweet.
I have supported Tottenham Hotspur since Christmas 1989. That year, as an impressionable 8-year old chap, my biggest [...]

The Christmas Single

So after months of planning (well, a few weeks), hundreds of consultations (mates down the pub) and some frantic recruiting (Facebook and Twitter) the time has finally come to officially launch the 52 New Things Christmas Single push.
First mooted a couple of months ago by an optimistic friend, the plan to record a single has [...]

New Thing #42 – The colonic

“What can I say, I just love poo”. Once again I’m lying on a table in a strange London clinic, stark naked with an attractive young woman touching bits of me that not even Mrs NT normally has access to. So far, so footballer’s life. Except on this occasion I have a hose up my [...]

The colonic

Tonight I will crumble to popular demand and suffer the indignity of having a colonic. After a sustained (and quite obviously rigged) campaign that involved emails, suggestions, Tweets and even texts I have caved and booked an appointment at a clinic in North London at vast expense.
They assure me that the “treatment” is totally safe [...]

New Thing #41 – Fish pedicure

Feet. Stinky, big, ridiculous flaps at the end of your body that are annoyingly vital for walking, running, swimming and playing some ball sports badly. Some people decorate them, others clothe them, some even enjoy doing revolting sexual things to them. For most women they represent, I’m led to believe, a financial sink-hole with millions being spent [...]

New Thing #40 – Throw some clay

There comes a time in every man’s life when he needs to construct something from the basic materials found naturally on this planet; a bow and arrow, or a penny whistle, or even an igloo perhaps. I myself managed to manipulate a block of lime wood into a now half-passable bowl that is currently used [...]

New Thing #39 – Take an Arabic lesson

Somewhat later than planned I’m pleased to report that things are back on track and today I managed to complete a New Thing that I arranged all the way back in February – take an Arabic lesson. So no long, verbose write-up this week, no back-patting cringey video clip and actually not many pictures either. [...]

New Thing #38 – Walk an alpaca

AMAZING:

If you want to have a go, head to www.dunreythalpacas.co.uk and book a walking tour. It’ll change your life.
PS – Apologies for the slightly amateurish video and awful music. The editing software with the Flip Video camera is basic to say the least.

THE BIG FINISH

As the 52NT project hurtles towards its conclusion and the inevitable lifetime of obscurity, I thought it wise to try and finish on somewhat of a high. Many ideas have crossed my mind, from the wonderful (break a world record) to the foolish (organise a Cheese and Guinness festival) to the down right dangerous (base [...]

The best laid plans and all that….

I probably should have learnt that nothing in life is certain (other than death and the return of X Factor every year) following the recent spate of cancellations and nature-induced mishaps for my planned events. But I didn’t and went ahead and bigged up this weekend’s plans to enter an BBQ rib eating competition and [...]

New Thing #37 – Dine in the dark

I panicked slightly. It was pitch black and my only guide was blind. I desperately searched for a light source, something, anything to use as a point of reference but there was nothing. I could hear other people muttering in low, confused tones, creating an unsettling murmur of dislocated human voices that floated through the [...]

New Thing #36 – Go backstage (+ make some chutney)

A double header this week as I got to do two great things from the list – go backstage at one of the greatest music venues in the world; and make a delicious condiment from scratch. Let’s start with the former.
I first visited the Brixton Academy, London back in 1996 to see Irish indie trio [...]

Somewhat belatedly, I make a Facebook page…

It seems that no website is complete these days without all manner of digital accessories and social plug-ins. Whilst I’ve been down with the kids on Twitter since day one, it has taken me slightly longer to embrace the goodness of Facebook. Some of you may have noticed a “Like” button appearing above posts recently. [...]

New Thing #35 – Fast

Saturday, 6.10am – The alarm goes off. I press snooze. I ‘m fasting this weekend, meaning I eat and drink only before sunrise and after sunset. How hard can it be?
6.25am – Alarm goes off again. I belatedly realise that sunrise is in 4 mins. Curse and get out of bed. Walk into closed bedroom [...]

Sleeping Rough v Fasting

I lined up a wonderful New Thing this week, only to be thwarted by nature. I was due to attend an unusual dining experience (I won’t spoil the surprise) but had a call hours before the booking to tell me that the heavy rain had flooded the kitchen and the premises were closed for the [...]

LE-JoG – The catering

For reasons that are too mundane to explain, we decided to record everything that we bought from service stations during last weekend’s trip from Land’s End to John O’Groats. It makes for interesting, if slightly sickly, reading:
Stop 1: Esso at Hampton Court
£75.15 diesel
2 x Ginsters spicy chicken slice
2 x Wrigley’s Extra gum
2 x Volvic 750ml
1 [...]

New Thing #34 – Visit the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Whilst completing last weekend’s epic drive from Land’s End to John O’Groats, I took the opportunity to complete an extra New Thing en route. Technically I suppose it took place during the week of New Thing #33, but then who’s taking notes. The point is, if I was going to drive 2000 miles up and [...]

New Thing #33 – Land’s End to John O’Groats

Well, I’ve done it. After years of wondering what it would be like to travel from the southern tip to the northern reaches of the United Kingdom I now know: it is long, boring but very, very beautiful. I completed the trip this weekend with three chums, a reliable Ford hire car and almost no [...]

Hullo United Kingdom!

Later today a car will leave South London and head down the famous A303 towards England’s most southerly point, Land’s End. Tomorrow, it will leave at the crack of dawn and drive for over 10 hours until it reaches Edinburgh. The following morning it will strike out, most likely in the pouring rain, for Scotland’s [...]

New Thing # 32 – Do something illegal, legally

This weekend I spent a very pleasant day in the company of various young chaps with names such as SoulOne, Revert, Phorm, 3Dom, Vomit, Jive, Vodker, Daze, and Da Mental Vaporz. Apart from the obvious grammatical anomalies, these were actually monikers for a group of international graffiti artists who had made the trip over to [...]

Doing something illegal, legally

Let’s be honest, breaking the law is mostly a lot of fun. Apart from the obvious things like murder, rape and incest, most of the things banned by the government are things that make the daily drudge of life just a little bit more bearable. Speeding? Great fun. Smoking inside? A highly missed pleasure. Recreational [...]

Land’s End to John o’Groats

As an island nation, we are mad. Maybe it is our proximity to the sea, maybe it is our Scandinavian history. Or maybe it is our peculiar obsession with conquering everyone else in the world. Whatever the case, for hundreds of years we have toiled and troubled ourselves with the etiquette of queueing, the minutiae [...]

New Thing # 31 – Watch a Bollywood film

Another slightly personal achievement this week as 52 New Things finds an oasis of calm in an otherwise crazy month of projects. With Hopi Ear Candling and Tattooing already behind me, and graffiti lessons and a Land’s End/John O’Groats trip ahead of me this month, this week was all about ticking off something in my [...]

New Thing # 30 – Hopi Ear Candling

I have felt ridiculous on numerous occasions in my life so far. When I was 8 I tried the long jump in primary school and put my back out, meaning the teachers had to carry me into the headmaster’s car stuck in a humorous yet incredibly painful V-shaped long jump pose. That was ridiculous. When [...]

New Thing # 29 – Get some body art

Ouch. I could feel that. OW. Yes, I was definitely feeling that. “My mum didn’t flinch at all when I was tattooing her.” In the list of things I never thought I’d hear, this one was right up there. All I knew was that for the second time in a month, I was half naked [...]

Extreme New Things in the pipeline

I thought it was high time to give a little glimpse into a few of the things I have planned in the latter half of the project, now that the half way point has been breeched and we’re hurtling headlong into the final furlong.
But first, as a quick aside and to answer the many emails [...]

New Thing # 28 – Walk home

Apart from three years at Exeter University and quick sojourn to Australia for a year, I’ve lived in London for pretty much my entire life and in that time I’ve got used to certain quirks of modern life in this city. Things like the strange smell of sour milk on the tube, the primeval scramble for the Metro [...]

New Thing # 27 – Achieve a boyhood dream

After the riotous events of the last couple of weeks (waxing, much?), I felt it was time to get back to the serious task of New Things. And whilst it is never going to be possible to top the act of removing all of my intimate hair, it is important not to lose sight of [...]

New Thing # 26 – Grow a manly beard

It would be hard to top the success of last week’s new thing. Where do you go from having your entire pubic region waxed, with video? Well, aptly, I’ve decided that the next new thing shall be recognition of the fantastic grizzly beard I’ve been cultivating for the last few weeks. There’s a wickedly ironic [...]

New Thing # 25 – The back, sack and crack wax

“Now if you just roll onto your front and pull your cheeks apart, I’ll start on the back bit. “ Numbly obliging the consultant’s demands, I did as I was asked and in doing so caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror: naked, lying on table in the middle of a salon in London’s [...]

Celebrating with an intimate wax

As the 52 New Things project hurtles towards the halfway point, I’ve had some time to reflect on the things that have happened since the idea launched in January. Highlights have included making new friends at the African dance class, having my portrait painted by the wonderful Caroline at Faceportrait, learning the dark arts of [...]

New Thing #24 – Make something useful out of wood

Anyone who has ever been to a music festival will know that they are a fertile, promiscuous breeding ground for experimentation, risk-taking and, pleasingly, trying new things. From new music to alcohol via a whole load of chemicals, music festivals have been helping people get laid, get drunk and get out of their minds for [...]

Taking 52 New Things to the Glastonbury Festival

The come down from the Secret Cinema event of New Thing # 23 has finally worn off and I’m left staring Number 24 down like a moody bull in a shabby Spanish bull ring. As the half way point of the project approaches, I’m increasingly finding that New Things are presenting themselves organically, rather than [...]

New Thing #23 – Go to a Secret Cinema event

NB – For those attending Secret Cinema this weekend, there are spoilers below.
A brilliant New Thing this week that included a double-helping of new things. Back in the early days of this project, a reader (the lovely Tor Evans) suggested I attend something called “Secret Cinema“. The concept is simple – while the internet [...]

New Thing #22 – Visit two new countries in 24 hours

The 52 New Things project goes international this week for the first time, creating havoc in no less than two different countries and two capital cities in the space of 24 hours. Obviously, given my base in the original seat of the empire and with all of Europe at my disposal, there was little need [...]

Update on some previous New Things

I’ve taken some time out to do some New Things (and have a bit of holiday, mind), hence the slightly sporadic posting of late. But more of that later. First I thought it would be interesting to update on some of the progress of previous New Things.
Firstly, and obviously most excitingly, I have managed to [...]

New Thing #21 – Try an alternative therapy

Many people envy the life of a journalist or a writer, imagining that their days are filled with long lunches, trips abroad, countless freebies and a long line of glamorous women, all soaked in a rich gravy of booze and cigars. The reality, sadly, is far more mundane – deadlines, coffee, stale sandwiches, demanding editors [...]

Ballooning crazy and craving chips

Many of you have sent me messages directing me to the antics of Jonathan Trappe, a crazy American fellow who has crossed the channel carried by numerous helium fuelled balloons. See footage of him drifting around below:

Now whilst I am all for trying new and potentially life threatening things (see here and here), this strikes [...]

New Thing #20 – Try the Slim Fast plan

When I was a child I wanted three things more than anything else in the world – a hoverboard, to ride in the Batmobile and to try freeze-dried ice cream like the astronauts had on the space shuttles. The closest I ever came to achieving any of these things was when a boy in my school won [...]

New Thing #19 – Have a full body MOT

Not as much of a crowd pleaser this week, more a personal triumph. After 28 years of abusing this fine, physical, oil-painting of a body, I finally relented to umpteen demands from my doctor and mother and booked myself in for a full body MOT. As new things go, this one was a biggy – [...]

Bonus New Thing – See a horror film in the cinema

Whilst we all wait with bated breath for the next new thing, I thought I’d do a quick post on a bonus new thing from earlier this month. For those of you who aren’t aware, Bonus New Things are activities that are technically new things but are either undocumented (I forgot the camera) or not [...]

New Thing #18 – Take an African dance class

When I began this project back in January, I secretly knew that I would end up trying a whole variety of weird, wonderful and often quite painful new things. One place I never thought I’d find myself though was in a community centre in Finsbury Park surrounded by 15 energetic women, stamping my bare feet [...]

New Thing #17 – Have my portrait painted

Staring is hard. Like, really hard. And I don’t mean a one minute staring competition in the playground. I mean a full-on stare fest where you feel like your eyes are shrivelling up and your brain actually hurts. And sitting is hard too. Particularly sitting still.
These thoughts, and hundreds of other similarly mundane ones, slipped [...]

New Thing #16 – Use a bidet

Today I was hoping to post details on an excellent New Thing that I’ve been arranging for the last few weeks. It was to be a glorious celebration of newness, filled with silliness and beauty. Sadly a bout of vomiting has laid my contact low and put paid to any plans for New Things this [...]

Bonus New Thing – Touch a deer

The great thing about a project like this is the completely random and unstructured way in which New Things can happen. Take this weekend, for example. Myself and Mrs New Things took a long overdue trip down to the south of England to spend some time sampling the finest New Forest cuisine and taking some [...]

New Thing #15 – Learn how to make cocktails

Like most chaps, I prefer my drinks cold, amber-coloured and served in a large, sturdy glass. It’s the proper way to drink, after all. Whilst I have no issues with the veritable array of neon-coloured, sugar-doused concoctions which are mixed up by swarthy-looking men in glossy bars, it’s not my poison. Cocktails are just too [...]

This has nothing to do with “Friends”

As it says on the “About” page, this whole project was dreamt up in the pub (and in the bath actually, but I didn’t want to make a massive deal about that bit) in an attempt to make 2010 as exciting as previous years. 2009, you see, had been a bit of a let down [...]

New Thing # 14 – Learn how to make pizza

Sometimes there is literally nothing more pleasurable than pizza. Maybe it’s the inherent casualness of a foodstuff you can pick and share with your hands; maybe it’s the infinite number of toppings you can add to the classic base; or maybe its just because it tastes heavenly after a night in the pub. To be [...]

Suggestions…I have a few

As the weather improves my mind is turning to new, outdoor-based things to try while the sun is here. Being British, I understand that the minute I step outside to try a new skill or visit a new place the heavens will open and I’ll be left looking foolish in my khaki shorts and flip-flops. [...]

New Thing # 13 – Spin some wool

Many who know me, and even those that don’t, will probably be judging whether to read this post on the first few lines as, to be honest, “spinning some wool” sounds as about as exciting as Coldplay. Well I’ll tell you now, read on because this bad boy is a killer….

Merino wool is fascinating stuff

It’s [...]

New Thing #12 – Try Viagra

On hindsight, I probably should have planned things better. As I sat at the dinner table at my sophisticated dinner party, surrounded by seven close friends and feeling slightly drunk, it suddenly dawned on me that necking a Viagra pill whilst cooking the starter was probably not my cleverest idea. I now had to maintain [...]

New Thing # 11 – Watch the Godfather Trilogy

I got quite into my New Thing this week as it was one of the original items I wanted to tick off during this project. And so I found myself at 9am on Sunday morning beginning the long journey to watching the whole Godfather Trilogy.
Coming from a family of filmmakers, it was scandalous that I [...]

And then it all went crazy

Interesting few days for the 52NT project. Cashing in on some industry contacts, I decided to broaden the scope of the project slightly by opening up the suggestions to the wider world and inviting organisations to suggest things for me to try. And by thunder it’s been like an open day on the Dover border [...]

Let’s break a world record

A friend of mind pointed me in the direction of this enterprising chap from Australia who has decided to make a list of 100 things to do before he dies. I like it because it shares similar ideals and end goals as this project, just on a slightly longer-term scale. However rather than run-of-the-mill things [...]

Is it all pointless?

I was reading a book the other day that referred to my generation as the “Try Me” generation. The author accused us of worrying more about trying as many things as possible and subscribing to whatever fad is trendy at the time, rather than satisfying ourselves with with the fulfilment of a two or three [...]

New Thing #10 – Swim 52 lengths of the local pool

That, by some distance, was the hardest thing I have done in a long time. I scoffed at people’s doubts, laughed at their concerns, but as I exhaustedly completed my 10th length (stop laughing at the back) I began to realise why I may have been a little over-optimistic in this New Thing.
It all began [...]

New Thing #9 – Buy my own bike

So I had a variety of New Things to choose from this week after a surprisingly fun-filled few days. I toyed with the idea of going with sponsoring a football match (which we did: Cefn Druids for £150…although they lost 5-2. Damn) or visiting London’s legendary Groucho club (for a breakfast briefing though, rather than [...]

New Thing # 8 – Grow my own veg

Growing your own food. It’s always seemed a bit….smug. A bit “look at me, Tesco’s just ISN’T good enough, not even their organic stuff.” I’ve never truly understood it to be honest. After all, supermarkets are essentially just big greengrocers, who themselves just sold what was grown in the fields outside town. So why bother [...]

52 lengths of the local lido? Easy……ish

Had a few interesting suggestions in this week to keep my mind busy. Jen Off suggested I go to an airport and get on the first available flight (I like this one) while Will F suggested I drink a yard of ale (sadly I’ve already done this a couple of times). Happy suggested I go [...]

New Thing # 7 – Do a lap of the M25

Firstly I should remind readers that this project is my own journey of discovery, my version of enlightenment, my race to fulfilment. I only remind you of this because doing a lap of the M25 is, for some people, akin to attending a Katie Price poetry reading. On your own. However for me it ended [...]

Looking at some of your suggestions

With over 100 suggestions through the site so far, I thought it was about time to address some of the more sensible ones, discard some of the more foolish ones (human twitter for a day? What?) and air some new ones I’ve thought of recently. After all, this is a collaborative process, no?……. What’s that?…… [...]

New Thing #6 – Eat the hottest curry possible

As the sweat poured off my face and I started my second pint of lassi, I began to wonder what exactly the point of this New Thing was.
I was in the Rose in Surbiton with seven mates, all of whom were looking at me with a mixture of amusement, fear and uncertainty. We’d settled in [...]

Curry Hell

I’ve been doing some research into curry prior to this foolish New Thing tomorrow night. My findings make for grim reading.
The self-styled Hottest Curry in the World is served by Viz-favourites the The Rupali in Newcastle. It is, allegedly, unfathomably hot, to the point where it makes a Vindaloo look like an ice cream. They [...]

Update on Granddad New Thing – It was the Italians!

Yesterday’s post went down so well that I decided to make it a double-header and phone Granddad again. Turns out it was a good call as he laid some myths to rest, myths I mistakenly reproduced yesterday.
The jeep that supposedly injured him, for example, didn’t “explode into flames” as I suggested (thanks dad). It wasn’t [...]

New Thing # 5 – Talk to Granddad Once a Week

So first up, apologies for the radio silence of late. Not the best way to drive traffic to one’s site I must say, by posting only one thing a week. I do have an excuse though, sir. Myself and Mrs NT moved flats last week and, because Virgin Media simply do not want my money, [...]

New Thing #4 – Live like a footballer

Its amazing what a four day break in Wales can achieve (stop laughing at the back). I went away without much of a clue about what New Thing I was going to do save for some fairly outrageous (and largely unprintable) suggestions. As it happens though, the long weekend turned out to offer a bevvy [...]

Bonus New Thing – Wear a skirt

I wasn’t sure about this post, particularly given the gratuitous picture below. But I have been convinced to put it up by colleagues and so-called “friends”.
This weekend was Burn’s Night. And, as all good English people do, I celebrated it by getting dressed up like a fool and drinking myself into oblivion. Sure, the host [...]

New Thing # 3 – See a radio show being made

As we stood huddled in the rain outside the Broadcasting House on Portland Place in central London, I did wonder what in the hell I was doing going to a live radio debate for a station I never listened to with an audience of people whose wardrobe seemed to consist entirely of cardigans, floral blouses [...]

Any Questions?

Week 3 and things are beginning to pick up. After the frankly laughable “Eat No Crisps” new thing of week 1 and the only slightly less pony “Read some Shakespeare” of week 2, I feel it may be time to up the game slightly. And before you ask, I’m not doing “Back, Sack & Crack” [...]

New Thing #2 – Read Shakespeare

A weekend reading Shakespeare and I feel….well, much the same as before if I’m honest. Not only did I have to read every page twice to fully understand what was going on, but old English is also riddled with grammatical inaccuracies and inconsistencies. William could have done with a GCSE in English Language to be [...]

Much ado about Shakespeare

After a long and arduous public consultation (on Twitter), I settled on Much Ado About Nothing as my first dalliance with Shakespeare. I actually ended up buying a whole boxset from Waterstones at the knock down price of £9.99 – not bad for 12 books (albeit horribly thin, trashy American-produced books):

Have only got through Act [...]

To Shakespeare, or not to Shakespeare

Well, things are in full swing now. My nails are a bit longer, I’ve made no resolutions and I haven’t touched a crisp for 14 days (which itself is some kind of personal record). Good stuff.
But now to the next New Thing and this week I will be mostly reading Shakespeare. I realised the other [...]

New Thing # 1 – No more resolutions, nail biting or crisps

The end of week one and, if I’m honest, its starting with a whimper rather than a roar. Because the website took slightly longer to set up than I thought, the first couple of posts have been done a little *ahem* retrospectively. Anyway, lets press on…
I decided to wrap up a couple of New Things [...]

And so it begins…

Wow so this is really happening now. The web designer is finished, the twitter account set up and now I really do have no excuse not to go ahead with my plan.
For those of you who cannot tell from the rather garish web address and branding, I’ve decided to try and do 52 new things [...]