What are you wistful you will never do, be or see?

Another vote for Concorde. I had the opportunity to travel on its scheduled LHRJFK route as a staff standby passenger for about £450 one way but I didn’t get round to doing it, then the crash happened and when the aircraft returned to service the deal was no longer available.

I did, however, go to Russia in 2014. We flew to St Petersburg, did all the sights, then we took the high speed train to Moscow & did that. With apologies to all those who missed out, it really was a fabulous experience and well worth the hassle & expense of getting tourist visas. Hopefully the current situation won’t last forever. 🤞

Join the navy
Been an engineer

Sometimes I wonder about all the royal wedding and funerals I won't see as well, which is quite sad but true - especially as it has just struck me I have never considered this for my OWN family!

2017 not 2019.

Was lucky enough to go to St Petersburg in 2019 but I’ll forever regret not going to Eritrea in the 90s.

The intelligence services absolutely recruit people without degrees and are great for midlife career changers. Obviously people mostly think about super secret agent spies but mostly they employ in a whole range of ‘normal’ roles - HR, finance, IT (including the service desk type folks for when you get locked out of your computer), security people, general admin type roles, etc. And, like with other big government departments, once in you can look at changing roles, training opportunities, etc.

If you’re still interested it’s worth looking into.

On the theme of hair, I'm a teensy bit wistful my children don't have red hair (any shade). I adore red hair on anyone so would have been thrilled if my children had that. I also love them the way they are though of course <obligatory reassurance that really goes without saying>

I always intended to see Paul Simon and Steely Dan live but never managed to either be organised enough or rich enough to do either. I think part of me felt that I didn't deserve to be able to go to live gigs. Since missing then both I've really made an effort to see more bands.

Same 😡
Also that I was never alive in the time of the dinosaurs

Fly on Concorde.

I'm wistful about never having a smallholding with ponies and livestock and lots of fruit and veg. I married the wrong man for that ( luckily he's Mr Right in other ways). I spent a lot of time with horses in my youth so I'm aware of how much work it is especially in winter so I wasn't prepared to do it on my own and it's not something DH would want to spend his retirement doing.

The first thing that popped into my head is rather trivial, I'm a tiny bit wistful that I'll never run my fingers through DHs hair again, he had lovely hair but there's very little of it left! Sadly it looks like our DSs will go the same way so I'll be wistful about their lovely hair eventually too.

I will never get to visit the lands at the top of the Faraway Tree or slide down the slippery-slip.

Love MoonFace and the gang.

AskNotForWhomTheBellCurves Interesting, thank you for this info. You touch on one of the big issues for me about visiting Russia - moral/ethical considerations.

I'm fortunate that after years of wanting to go, DH and I visited St Petersburg about 5 years ago. It was an amazing experience and one we'd love to repeat.

For us, it's not so much can we go but should we go. Making a huge and fascinating country a no go zone for many reasons and many people is yet another of Putin's atrocious acts, albeit one of the less pressing issues.

To go on a river cruise on the Danube with my dad.

I've always loved those TV programmes where members of the public are taken back in time and live for a while in an historical setting. I would love to have taken part in one, as a pioneer in the USA (absolutely loved reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child!)

I will never get to visit the lands at the top of the Faraway Tree or slide down the slippery-slip.

FYI for all the people who are saying about visiting Russia, it is actually still allowed for UK citizens by both governments and by all accounts straightforward and safe. I haven't been myself but have a couple of British friends who have visited within the last year (either because they have Russian partners or for work reasons). It took them a week to get a tourist visa, and on arrival they were taken to the 'side room' along with some other tourists of various nationalities to be asked about their itinerary before being allowed to enter, but they said it was just a normal chat and nothing intimidating. Because of sanctions it's not possible to fly direct from the UK, and you most likely wouldn't be able to get insurance because there's an FCDO advisory against all travel, mostly in case of the war suddenly escalating without warning. But on a day to day basis the risks are apparently quite minimal. I am strongly considering visiting Moscow myself - the biggest issue for me is that it's a really long flight from where I live and I'm not sure when I'll be able to get enough time off, otherwise I'd have no reservations.

Of course many people might be against visiting for moral reasons given current circumstances and that's completely understandable, but I know a lot of people are under the impression either that travel is banned completely, or that you'll be whisked away to some Siberian prison as soon as you show your UK passport at the border. So, just letting you know it's still possible.

I always assumed I would spend some time living and working in New York, and I never did. It's not going to happen now and I am sometimes wistful about that.

On the plus side, unlike poor @ClawdeenWolf, I did have lots of random sex when my body was banging! No regrets!

I’ll never be a mum 😢 I try not to dwell on it

Yep, this!

This resonates with me though it's a different dynamic not DH but extended family missing. Nobody else gives a fig and our children don't know their many cousins. Just a bit of bad luck with siblings not wanting to know being utterly selfish. I feel sad they won't have that family feeling with aunties and uncles. Literally nobody is bothered. We try to make it nice for the kids and what they don't know they won't miss.

That I'll never be a Victorian plant hunting in the Himalayas and bringing some Rhodedendron back for Mama and Papa to admire. I wouldnt mind discovering something archeologically significant, either.
Same for discovering new species, ideally something orchid-like on a tepui in Venezuela rather than some moss-thing growing on next doors septic tank.

That I can't ever be in a relationship with a really lovely, much younger man I know who would be perfect for me if it wasn't for the age gap. He's gorgeous, we just 'get' each other and we can talk about anything. I wouldn't go there, and anyway I have a very nice DH already and couldn't ever leave him. But it doesn't stop me daydreaming.

I only did when they performed for Ahmet Ertigun, and I tried to get tickets but couldn't. I wish I'd tried harder. I've seen Robert Plant, and Jason Bonham (with several bands), and I've seen Coverdale / Page. The latter was good enough for Plant to describe it as David Coverversion 🤣