Older, but no wiser

It was before Christmas when Tamar tagged me with this 7x7 meme. The fact that it’s taken me so long to respond is mostly a reflection on the sluggish state of my grey matter these days…

7 things to do before I die
- Bring at least one piano piece up to performance standard
- Experience some real mountains (something Alpine scale) up close and personal, and see the sunrise from a mountain top
- Live in a house with a stream or a wood (or even better, both) at the bottom of the garden.
- Climb another long multi-pitch mountain route. Something on Lliwedd maybe?
- Go wild camping somewhere remote for a least a fortnight
- Learn to ski
- Figure out who the hell I really am

7 things I cannot do
- Swim more than more than one length without stopping
- Lie convincingly
- Be a salesman (any connection with #2?)
- Be the life and soul of the party
- Sunbathe (too damn hot and too damn boring)
- Dance
- Given the lack of output lately, maybe I should make #7: “Write blog posts”…

7 things that attract me to…
…the hills
- Solitude
- Self reliance
- Simplicity
- Companionship
- Being close to nature
- The view
- Discovering myself there

7 things I say most often
I say so little, and listen to even less of it, that this one is really hard…
- Maybe/perhaps...
- I dunno…
- I need to/ought to… (do x, y, z)
- I guess...
- oh fuck... (thought reflectively, under my breath as it were)
- errr…

7 books (or series) that I love
- Lord of the Rings
- The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy and all sequels
- Catch 22
- The Bible
- Band of Brothers (as the TV series)
- Dr Who (I’ve seen every incarnation since the original, and yes, as a seven-year-old I really did hide behind the sofa when the Daleks came on!)
- If anyone has published the complete works of T S Eliot as a single volume, I’ll count it as#7

7 movies I watch over and over (or would if I had the time)
- Lord of the Rings (can I get away with counting all three as one?)
- 2001
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Ghandi
- The Third Man (Orson Welles’ version)
- Any Marx Brothers
- The Lion in Winter (the original O'Toole and Hepburn version)

I’m sure that set is unbalanced; there must some whimsical, feel-good movies I’d include, if I could but remember… Maybe I’d include Heaven Can Wait, or, along similar lines, A Matter of Life and Death.

7 people I want to join in too
Nah, I’ll give that one a miss; I’ve left this far too long already. If anyone feels a burning desire to keep this one alive, feel free to consider yourself tagged.

I'm sure Andrea gave up hope long ago that I'd respond to her 20 things meme; I haven't quite forgotten, Andrea! Maybe (!) I'll get around to that one next :-)