Goal no.86 – Take Claire to an Afternoon Tea

This take sounds easy. It’s not, trust me.

Claire loves doing afternoon teas, and regularly does them with her best friend. So when I looked at booking one up for us, it had to be one that she hadn’t done. This is where it is starting to get hard.

To date she has done the big ones: Harrod’s, Park Lane, and even The Ritz is already booked up for them to do! So I really had to think outside the box.

Well, I achieved it! For her Christmas present I booked us on the Brigit’s Bakery bus tour around London, on a Red Routemaster Bus!

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The food and cakes were amazing! I was so full at the end, which was surprising as I really didn’t think I would be, when I first saw the plates. But it was lovely.

It was also a great way to see London. I mean, we’ve both been Londoners all our lives, but it’s nice to did things different once in a while.

I’m really glad that we did it this way, and it was a lovely way to goal 86, completed!

Goal no. 73 – Have five more tattoo sessions

The February half term week appears to be turning into an annual road trip to Wales, as for the second year running I headed of to Carmarthen for another tattoo session with Marley.

I did promise her that my next design wouldn’t be as intense as last year’s, when she started the back piece that I documented in The Tattoo Challenge post. This time I wanted the piece on my right thigh, and sent her a picture of my idea of a bionic leg under ripped skin. As I normally say to Marley, she has free rein to improve the idea.

Well she did, and wow!

As we looked at the design she had changed the cogs mechanism I’d found a picture of, to a more robotic one with pistons. Definitely more appropriate for a thigh. Immediately I was sold, and we cracked on.

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I was actually stunned at how much she managed to complete. I knew this wouldn’t be single day session job, but the fact that she got that much done wowed me again! It looks fantastic, and already so much better than my original concept.

I can’t wait for my next session to finish this piece off.

Goal no.43 – Eat at 7 different restaurants with Claire.

When I set this goal it was all about Claire and I spending quality time together. Not just sitting at home, falling asleep in front of the TV, but getting out and enjoying ourselves.

We had ticked off a lot of restaurants when we were on holiday, which is why we were quite strict as to what would qualify. But after the summer we had one more left to do. What perfect way to complete this goal, but to spend Valentines night out together.

As it was for Valentine’s night, I thought it would be perfect to go to our favourite restaurant, Da Peppino in Welling.

As usual we had a great 3 course meal, a bottle of Prosecco, and there was even live music with a great singer.

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It was a great way to complete this goal, especially being for a celebration and not just a night out. It seemed very fitting.

Goal 43. Complete!

Last weekend saw me compete in my 7th crossbow competition, for goal no. 38. The bonus was that it was also a nationals which would count for goal no. 36 too. Double bubble.

Again the day started with a long old drive down to Glevum in Gloucestershire, which was well fuelled by coffee. The competition itself was the indoor 18m, at a 40cm target. Our scores too would also count towards the World Indoor Championships, which is a postal competition.

The way the postal competition works is that only scores achieved at national federation registered competitions (at 18m – on both a 40cm, and 25m, target) count. So, two scoring shoots to do. This was my first.

The day started with great news for myself, and fellow GB team mate Graeme. As it had been finally published that I had taken the world no.1 spot for outdoor shooting, and Graeme for Indoor. My first shot in the two sighting ends however, was a miss! Out of the target rings! The settings on my scope were well off. I now only have 5 shots left to sort it out!

Thankfully I know my crossbow enough, through the 100 hours, of what felt like never ending training, to know how much adjusting the optimiser needed.

Well it worked! I scored a new PB, of 566 out of 600!!

A great result, and I retained the 3rd of my 4 titles! Very happy at that.

As a footnote to this post, the next World Championships location and dates have been announced. Goal 35 was for me to attend, which I did in June 2019. But the next championships are also within the date of this challenge, in June 2021. There are also being held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I am going!! Even if I have to sell a kidney. This may have a knock on effect with some other challenges, from financial perspective, but we’ll see what develops.