the ugly duckling story

1. Talk to an older person about their childhood

Many elderly people begin monologues with the cry: 'Ahh, when I was young...' Have you ever listened to what follows? With your full attention? There are fewer things more fascinating than hearing a first-hand account of a bygone era. If said older person is a member of your family, perhaps a parent or grandparent, you'll gain insights into family roots you never knew existed


2. Go on a blind date

Blind dates are nerve-racking, yet potentially thrilling events. Whether you're a veteran on the dating scene, there are some hard-and-fast guidelines to abide by. First, you have to look your best. (This isn't the moment to make a fashion faux pas). The last thing you want is for your date to give you the once-over and walk on by. Everyone has the fear that their blind date will be a minger. Let's face it, usually it's love at first sight or a downright disaster. And there's the only one way to find out which.....


3. Have a lost weekend

What's the point of getting to forty and being able to remember every single day? Make sure there's at least one weekend remembered solely. The weekend will have been the stuff of legend. Something that will make you wish you'd never been born. As long as you passed out with a smile on your face, the chances are it will have been worth it.


4. Run to the top of a hill and shout, 'I am the King of the World!!!'


5. Retake an exam you failed or did badly in when you were young


6. See a band you've never heard playing live!!

If we didnt expand our musical horizons, we'd still be chilling to 'Baa Baa Black Sheep'. There's no need to shut off all other avenues for the rest of your life. Discovering a new artist whose music touches a nerve, makes you smile or cry, drives you to dance or soothes you to sleep, is one of the enduring joys of this life. Music is the gift that keeps on giving Open your mind. The band might be crap but who knows they might be the Next Big Thing


7. Get creative. Write! Paint! Compose a song!


8. Get in a cab and shout, 'Follow that car!!'

You've seen it in the movies, now make it part of your real life!!


9. Keep a diary.

Anne Frank did it, and went down in history. You too could follow in her footstep by recording the scandals of your life and times, together with the inevitable helpings of mundane minutiae. Dig out your teenage diaries from the loft. Before cringing with embarrassment and burning them to ashes, stop a minute. Those memories are what make you who you are. You can wallow in nostalgia when you read them again at the age of eighty? Spare no detail, however salacious. twenty years from now, you'll re-read the saucy bits and think: 'Oh yes. I lived.'


10. Learn to drive

I mean really really drive. Take your motoring skills to the next level. Sample a circuit track, or go off-roading on an extreme rallying course. Free from the hassles of speed cameras and plodding pedestrians, you can zoom with unlimited zest. Your adrenalin will go into overdrive as if you tackle the drive of your life.