39 steps to a better life

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marshlander
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39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268299Post marshlander »

These are Country Life's pick of the 39 skills the nation’s youth should have outside the academic sphere – how many can you muster, do you agree and which skills should have been on the list?

I recon I could honestly manage 24 1/2 :lol:

1. Cook three different dinner party menus
2. Say ‘Can you help me please' in Arabic, Cantonese, Urdu, Spanish and Russian
3. Play a musical instrument, even if it's just the tom-toms or a mouth organ
4. Ride a horse to jackaroo standard
5. Be a ‘tech whisperer', able to fix and set up the latest technogadgets
6. Talk about five classics of English literature with authority and passion
7. Perform resuscitation on someone who has stopped breathing
8. Know how to grow carrots from seed, distinguish five native trees, identify 20 flowers and arrange a bunch
9. Handle a shotgun, skin a rabbit, gut a fish and pluck a pigeon
10. Repair a bicycle puncture and fix the chain
11. Dance the eightsome reel, waltz to Strauss and bop to Lady Gaga
12. Taste the difference between Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay and know how to mix a mojito or margarita
13. Write a memorable thank-you letter
14. Recognise music by Mozart, Elgar and Handel
15. Put up a shelf and change a plug
16. Tie a bow tie, bowline and Bloody Butcher
17. Sail a boat across the Solent
18. Carve a joint of meat
19. Tell the difference between Gothic, Baroque and Palladian architecture
20. Make a speech, entertain an audience with a joke or an anecdote, and sing at least two songs by heart
21. Drive a tractor, reverse a trailer, renew engine oil and change a wheel
22. Find their way round five capital cities
23. Host a party and put others at their ease
24. Sustain a 10-shot rally at tennis
25. Build a bonfire and lay a fire
26. Perform three good card tricks
27. Identify five constellations and find the North Star
28. Score a cricket match
29. Talk knowledgeably about five British landmarks
30. Uncork and pour a bottle of Champagne
31. Iron a shirt, sew on a button and sew up a hem
32. Amuse small children for at least an hour with magic tricks and storytelling
33. Read a map, pitch a tent and pack a rucksack
34. Be authoritatively acquainted with at least one work by
da Vinci, Constable, Degas, Turner and Canaletto
35. Manage a bank account
36. Slip away from a football riot
37. Address a member of the Royal Family
38. Complain effectively but politely in a restaurant
39. Deliver a lamb
Terri x
“I'd rather be a little weird than all boring.”
Rebecca McKinsey

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268302Post MKG »

Remind me never to read County Life (but 27 and three halves).

Mike
The secret of life is to aim below the head (With thanks to MMM)

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268314Post oldjerry »

The Plebs have missed out the MOST important ,don't trust the bloke with a missing finger.

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268321Post Cassiepod »

24 1/2 too....

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268322Post the.fee.fairy »

To help you with Number 2: Can you help me please in Chinese is: Quing bang wo (pronounced Ching bung war). Literally, please help me.

If you want it for something like directions, it's: qing wen (ching when) - can I ask?

There you go! Another quarter you can add to the list!

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268323Post Cassiepod »

Apart from possbily teh languages (thanks Fee :) ) the rest that I didn't have I thought were irrelevant to me and my life and unnecssary and didn't see a need to add them to my accomplishments....

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268331Post The Riff-Raff Element »

23. But I went to a comprehensive. I notice that they haven't got that one about stretching a condom over your head and nose and then inflating it to humourous effect by breathing in through the mouth and out through the nose. We did quite a bit of that in the old days in Norfolk.

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268332Post merlin »

I can deliver a lamb, if you give me the correct address :-)
A few short films of us making home made food and drink in Bulgaria
http://inbulgaria.co.uk/

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268335Post oldjerry »

The Riff-Raff Element wrote:23. But I went to a comprehensive. I notice that they haven't got that one about stretching a condom over your head and nose and then inflating it to humourous effect by breathing in through the mouth and out through the nose. We did quite a bit of that in the old days in Norfolk.

Latex has reached Norfolk?

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268338Post The Riff-Raff Element »

oldjerry wrote:
The Riff-Raff Element wrote:23. But I went to a comprehensive. I notice that they haven't got that one about stretching a condom over your head and nose and then inflating it to humourous effect by breathing in through the mouth and out through the nose. We did quite a bit of that in the old days in Norfolk.

Latex has reached Norfolk?
Fortunately for the wider gene pool, yes.

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268340Post demi »

I can speak Macedonian, a little serbian, a little less bulgerian and a little less greek. In that order. Well, i speak English first too. Does that count? I can probably ask "can you help me please" in most of them.

English: Can you help me please?
Macedonian: Mozi da mi pomogne te molam?
Serbian: Mozete li mi pomogi molim vas?
Bulgerian: Mozi da mi pomognete molim? ( Merlin is that right? )
Greek: i can only remember how to swear in greek haha! not tried to speak it in 5 years and most of it has been replaced with macedonia.
Tim Minchin - The Good Book
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then morally guess what your off the hook, and thank Christ you only have to read one book'

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268343Post Green Aura »

I lost count after 25 because all the little part answers got too much to remember. There seemed to be quite a few quarters and other fractions knocking about.

Does it make me a wuss that I can skin a rabbit, gut a fish and pluck a pigeon but have never handled a shotgun?

I have to say some of them bewildered me slightly - is there some special knack to navigating capital cities - are they different from others or did it mean "be intimately acquainted with....". And does bopping to Lady Gaga require any skill, or is it like bopping to any other crap? And why didn't they include pogoing? :lol:

My head hurts now - counting before breakfast is apparently not good for me.
Maggie

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Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. Anais Nin

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268344Post merlin »

demi wrote:I can speak Macedonian, a little serbian, a little less bulgerian and a little less greek. In that order. Well, i speak English first too. Does that count? I can probably ask "can you help me please" in most of them.

English: Can you help me please?
Macedonian: Mozi da mi pomogne te molam?
Serbian: Mozete li mi pomogi molim vas?
Bulgerian: Mozi da mi pomognete molim? ( Merlin is that right? )
Greek: i can only remember how to swear in greek haha! not tried to speak it in 5 years and most of it has been replaced with macedonia.
Bulgarian: Moje li da mi pomognete molya
A few short films of us making home made food and drink in Bulgaria
http://inbulgaria.co.uk/

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demi
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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268345Post demi »

I sort of got it. A bulgerian would know what i ment at least. Right, Merlin? They are all similar langwages. Although Greek is totally different even though we border with them.
Tim Minchin - The Good Book
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr1I3mBojc0

'If you just close your eyes and block your ears, to the acumulated knowlage of the last 2000 years,
then morally guess what your off the hook, and thank Christ you only have to read one book'

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Re: 39 steps to a better life

Post: # 268347Post gregorach »

Hmmm... I'm pretty sure I can identify every native tree, but I'm rubbish at flowers. Do I get to count "play a musical instrument" more than once? As for scoring a cricket match - I'm Scottish, why on Earth would I need to do that? Finally, what does it mean to be authoritatively acquainted with works of art?
Cheers

Dunc

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