I wish... I finished planning my road trip (part 3)

It all happened so quickly.

I saw a tweet on 21st September by Danny Wallace, one of my favourite writers. He wrote Yes Man and Join Me and half of Are You Dave Gorman? (he was the half who wasn't Dave Gorman). His tweet said he'd be at the Bath Children's Literature Festival on Saturday 26th with his children's book illustrator, Jamie Littler.

Immediately I told my friend Morwhenna, who wanted to have a pint with Danny as part of her 40/40 Project; a year-long project to celebrate her 40th birthday by completing 40 challenges on her wish list.

In a matter of minutes Morwhenna had bought two tickets, I had agreed to go with her (a mere three-hour drive each way), and she had agreed to visit Cheddar Gorge with me for my road trip project.

Boom. Done. Organised.

A few days later I met Danny Wallace and Jamie Littler!

Me with Danny Wallace and his first book for children, Hamish and the Worldstoppers

Danny was superb. Friendly and funny and happy to meet us, even after an hour on stage and with his family there waiting. Top bloke. Danny was interested in Morwhenna's project and gave her some wise words of advice as well as taking home her painting of a pint of beer (a real pint might not have gone down well with the family audience).

Jamie was a star too. Despite admitting to feeling nervous beforehand, he drew some excellent cartoon characters based on ideas from younger members of the audience, which were projected onto a screen above the stage. On the spot. No preparation. Impressive! I'm only gutted that Morwhenna and I were moved on before we could get a photo with Jamie too.

And so onwards to Cheddar Gorge. My wish of the month for September was to finish planning my road trip, not embark on it. But when the opportunity arose, I took it.

Without an ounce of cheese or irony.

In Cheddar I bought a 1kg wedge of vintage cheddar cheese from the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company. It was the least I could do after pestering the staff to go in the museum whilst they were cleaning it, posing for silly photographs with exhibits, and making a hash of the queue for the tills. 

Then Morwhenna and I drove up into Cheddar Gorge to marvel at the rocks, the rock climbers, the hyperventilating cyclists and the rear ends of mountain goats (they simply would not turn around).

I loved Cheddar Gorge; the cheesiness of it, in every meaning of the word. And the fact that Morwhenna came with me. She was great; fun, confident and eager to direct me into poses for silly photographs. A superb addition to the road trip crew.

Morwhenna and her car, Henry, guarding my cheese

Cheddar Gorge. Tick!

What's next?

Sandwich with Andy and Stephen in November. I wrote about organising that trip in my last blog post.

Then? Three places in and around Derbyshire with Paul, Nick and Laura. Prompted by Cillabella to pull my finger out this month, I contacted Paul yesterday about my idea for the trip. He and Nick agreed to help. Paul had heard of two of the place names, but not the third. "I will have to look up Bottoms," he replied, punctuated with a smiley face.

Paul and Nick at the Wellcome Collection

Laura at the Ashmolean Museum

Fantastic! Three new places and three new roadtrippers. Which means...

Only seven more trips to organise. Hmm. Can I, at least, and by the end of October, pencil in dates for them and invite some friends to join me?

What do you wish you could do for the sheer ridiculous fun of it? Let me know.

I wish... I finished planning my road trip (part 2)

Crikey, nine road trips. Where do I start?

I looked at the hand-scribbled list of forty-five place names. There was definitely a trip to Wales in there, and a huge tour of the North of England. I couldn't believe I needed to go back to Scotland again; I could have sworn I'd ticked off everything north of the border.

Choose a small trip to start with, I told myself. A small trip won't need as much notice as a big one, not if I want other people to come with me anyway.

My road trip crew consists of ten amazing friends (well, nine since the ex skedaddled): Steven, Vicky, Lucy H, Anthony, Lucy M, Andy, Stephen, Bronwyn and Livia. If I could convince one of them to come with me on the next road trip, that would be great. Because they know what's involved; mainly telling me which country lane to drive along and then standing in the rain, knee-deep in stinging nettles, to photograph me hugging a signpost. 

What's not appealing about that?

Andy and Stephen enjoying an evening's entertainment in Cardigan.

I sent a Facebook message to Andy and Stephen. They live in the Philippines at the moment, but I knew they'd be visiting the UK in November. If I was quick, they might sign up for another road trip.

A few days later, Andy replied: 'Sadly... we don't have time for a road trip. However if you wanted to tick Ham and Sandwich off your list we can try to arrange a date for you to come to Deal if you don't mind an overnight at my parents' house?'

Ham? Sandwich? Parents' house? Deal!

Do you have a wish of the month? Who could help you? Send them a message today.

I wish... I finished planning my road trip (part 1)

If your heart is set on doing something, do it just so. Don't compromise.

Some time in early 2004 I was sitting on a sofa with a road atlas on my lap. Perhaps I was planning a route to visit my family. I can't remember.

What I do remember is looking at the index, a vast list of place names printed in a tiny font. Have you ever done this? Hidden amongst the multitude of normal, sensible place names are weird and wonderful little gems: Pratt's Bottom, Stiffkey, Mousehole...

It reminded me of how I used to sit in the back of my Mum and Dad's car on long trips, finding us on a map and marvelling at unfamiliar names and coastlines.

I dreamed of a road trip; a journey across the UK to visit these silly place names. To see what's there. To have an adventure. 

Excited by my finds, I fetched a highlighter pen and began marking them. 

A few years later, the adventure began. Returning from a day trip to a chocolate factory, I made a detour to Bell End with my friends Lucy and Vicky.

We couldn't find Bell End. It was late, it was dark, and our blood sugar levels were dangerously high. But we found traces of another silly place name nearby...

Over the past 6 years I have visited 56 places with unusual names. I have travelled from the farthest nook on the Cornish coast to the lush green spaces of Ireland to the northernmost isles of Scotland.

It has been the most fun and difficult project of my life so far. Because I have done it with friends and I have done it without Sat Nav.

And it's not over yet...

My aim is to visit a total of 101 places with unusual names. Some well-meaning friends suggested that I stop at 50. No way! I can't move the goalposts now. My heart is set. Less than 101 places and some favourites get cut. More than 101 and the journey might never end!

So, this month I will plan the road trips I need to do to complete the journey. By my rough calculations that's 9 trips to visit the 45 remaining places.

What do you wish you could do? Have a go this month. I dare you.

I wish... I went to bed earlier (part 5)

I wish... I went to bed earlier (part 4)

Do you want:

• decreased dependence on coffee?
• increased memory?
• decreased inflammation?
• decreased fat?
• increased creativity?
• longer life?
• decreased risk of depression?
• lower stress?

Yeah, me too. 

Want to know how?

No, it's not dress up as Scooby Doo or pass out on the Tube.

It's sleep for 7 hours or more every night.

Today somebody very special to me sent me a link to this: A Report On Sleep by The Do Lectures. I read it and I loved it and I read it again. It reassured me in so many ways that my wish of the month is important.

Here's why...

According to the report, the average amount of sleep per night is 6 hours. With increasingly busy lives and more distractions online than ever before (ahem), sleep is being sacrificed.

Have you seen the Virgin Media advert, Introducing Night Owl? The owl sits in bed watching box sets on a laptop whilst her partner sleeps. Apparently that's OK and perfectly normal. 

Worrying, isn't it.

The report goes on to say that 72% of people don't sleep well after alcohol. I can testify to that! You'll know why if you read my last blog post. 

Furthermore, 88% of sleep problems are caused by stress and anxiety. Perhaps many of those people see their GP about it, because the report goes on to state that 24% of people in the UK were prescribed sleeping pills in 1 year alone. That's 15,300,000 people!

So, as a nation, we're either downing caffeine to stay awake, popping pills to go to sleep, or watching Game of Thrones until the early hours. No wonder we're all so bloody tired. 

And I haven't even mentioned children or neighbours or jetlag... Let's not go there.

So what's the answer?

The report lists 6 tips:

1. Take 3 deep breaths before you close your eyes (to reduce worry and stress).
2. Before you sleep, write down what you will do when you wake up (to ease your mind).
3. Invest in some top notch ear plugs (to block out disruptive sounds).
4. Exercise in the day (to get rid of restless energy).
5. Set a sleep schedule and stick to it (for consistency).
6. Set a timer before you nap for 15 minutes (to avoid long naps).

Do those 6 things, plus switch off your gadgets as much as possible, give alcohol and caffeine a miss, and go to bed a bit earlier... and you might get those magic 7 hours of sleep.

There are only a few more sleeps left this month. I intend to make them good ones.

(This blog post contains information interpreted by me from A Report On Sleep by The Do Lectures. I suggest that you read the original report for accuracy.)

Still awake? What do you wish you could do? Do it in July. It's only a few days away.

I wish... I went to bed earlier (part 3)

Every evening at 10pm my mobile phone has beeped at me. Turn off your gadgets! OK OK, hang on, let me just finish this comment on Facebook. 

Then, an hour later... BEEP BEEP BEEP! Lights out Richard! Come on, stop what you're doing. Go to sleep. OK, alright, chill, I'll just finish this chapter.

The alarms have worked because they remind me to switch off. A few minutes later, I begrudgingly do what they tell me. The result? An earlier bedtime. More sleep. Can't argue with that.

But my goodness, those alarms aren't half annoying. Nag nag nag!

It's like being told to go to bed by your Mum. No! Why should I? I'm an adult, I'll go to bed when I feel like it! Every time the alarm goes off, I have to remind myself that I set the alarm. The only person telling me to go to bed is me. 

So I lose the Kevin & Perry attitude quicksmart and get on with it.

It's only gone wrong twice this week:

The first time, somebody else that I live with (who shall not be named) woke me up at midnight by shouting, and then at 3:30am by moving around the house and operating machinery. Needless to say I was a bit tired and irritable in the morning. 

However, instead of staying silent on the matter and stewing with unresolved anger (like I normally would), I confronted the person about it. To my surprise it wasn't awkward at all, and I felt better for saying something. Result!

The second time, I had some fizzy alcoholic drinks and a large meal just before bedtime. I felt so stuffed that I had to prop myself up on pillows like the fattest man in the world so I didn't suffocate on undigested hamburgers.

Not my finest hour.

Then I woke up several times during the night with tummy aches and sweats. Nice. At least I can add another thing to my list of things not to do before bedtime.

I checked out a couple of websites about sleep this week. One was The Sleep Council. New tips I picked up from them included:

• 16-18 degrees celsius is an ideal temperature for a bedroom.
• Write down any worries you have in a diary before you go to bed.
• Practise breathing exercises and visualise the muscles in your body relaxing.

The Sleep Council also stressed the importance of buying a comfortable bed. Not surprising when you realise it's funded by the National Bed Federation, the trade association for British bed manufacturers!

The other website was goodlife*sleep, which aims to join up the dots between sleep, health and personal development. It's a new venture co-founded by a friend I met recently, Mag Secretario, who doesn't sell beds, so I signed up for the newsletter.

Crikey, is that the time? Night night.

What do you do to unwind before bed? And what do you definitely not do?

I wish... I went to bed earlier (part 2)

One week into my new wish, am I going to bed earlier?

During the week (AKA school nights), yes. Lights out by 11:15pm on average.

At the weekend? Awful! Awfully late, I mean (the weekend was brilliant). Saturday and Sunday bedtimes were respectable; midnight or just after. But Friday... I didn't sleep until 4am!

Oh well, it was a fancy dress party; it would have been rude not to.

I don't mind staying up late at the weekend, as long as I don't have big plans for the next day (i.e. a shift at work, a wedding, or another late-night social occasion) and as long as I feel OK (i.e. not desperately tired, ill or tormented by a thumping headache). 

Fortunately, that was the case this weekend. Despite going to bed five hours later than planned, I slept deeply and felt fine on Saturday. 

Sure, I felt tired by the early evening. But I stayed awake. I didn't nap. I got back into a relatively normal sleeping pattern as soon as possible.

This week, if all goes to plan (yeah right), I'll go to bed at 11pm on six consecutive nights. I've got a new trick up my sleeve: An alarm on my mobile phone to remind me to switch off gadgets so I can properly unwind before bed. My friend Jo Robinson suggested it, and I reckon it's worth a shot.

After all, lots of us set an alarm to wake up. Why not set an alarm to go to sleep?

Do you wish you went to bed earlier? What time would be ideal for you?