‘Cool’ things you have done!

[Chelsea26]

Today DP and I took our 4 kids up to London to the theatre.

After, we had a walk round a few sights and he flashed his warrant card and we were able to walk down and take a picture outside Number 10 Downing Street (not that I like anyone in there but still… quite cool)

We walked on a little further and went past the HoP, in my youth I was part of a film crew that went up ‘Big Ben’ and stayed up there for a few hours (also cool), and then, as I was the only woman on the crew, I got to wind the clock!

So as we were walking past today, I casually told the kids that I had wound that clock and I am probably one of very few people alive that have done so

and I was cool for about five minutes

What ‘cool’ things have you done?

Not very cool but I love it. I'm a beta reader for five different published authors. It's the last proof read before it's published.

That’s my dream job! How do you get to do that, @iklboo ?

@ShirleyJackson - unfortunately I don't get paid for it - I get a mention in the acknowledgments and a free copy. I was following one on FB and he asked if anyone was interested and I said yes. Then he's passed my name onto the others. I've got two reads coming up in the next couple of weeks.

This didn't involve me actually doing anything but John Cena follows me on Twitter (he follows about half a million people so it's not an exclusive club) and that got me a million cool points with the DS and his mates.

I imagine its changed a bit since '89, I went in 2007.

I've been on the sleeper train in Finland many times, going up to Lapland. Its a nice experience but quite different from the Russian sleeper train (and the restaurant car is shit)

@Cocolapew

More info please 😀

I play bass guitar in a band. We're quite niche and not famous at all but those who like us love us!

I've headlined on the main stage at small festivals with them and I've seen people out and about wearing our band t shirt.

After being approached in pubs and stuff, I know I absolutely wouldn't want to be famous! But it is the coolest thing I've done.

It was, @RampantIvy; on Barra. It was amazing.

Pretty feeble compared to everyone else's but...

Won the mums race on exactly the same soil I used to get picked last for PE 😆

Went to a Sleaford Mods gig at 7 months pregnant and Jason Williamson tweeted me after 🤣

Similarly to Ikiboo I've been an editor to a few different authors. It was a job I fell into thanks to a friend and I'm now finishing off a degree in literature and creative writing and hoping to expand my editing work soon. I've been thanked within a few different books.

And as a result from that I've actually also recently worked for another friend on a script for a massive BBC show in the hope of a commission for her, in the process I learned major spoilers for the show but I couldn't tell anyone about them. It didn't work out in the end for her but as a result I've had online meetings with people from the BBC and webinars with them and Netflix and my friend has had other opportunities come her way so I really hope I can help her with them too.

Wrote off an armoured personal carrier.

You Win !!!!!!!!! 😛

Dad's. I meant Dd's. Not sure if it would be as cool if my dad had a midsleeper 🤣🤣

Love this thread. - so many great stories.

But this is who I want to be when I grow up. Or rather, at my age, who I want to be reincarnated as!

Am not sure whether to say impressive or disastrous. Hope everyone was ok?

Not sure whether this counts as cool, but I did have a go at fire-eating a number of years ago.

I ran the London Marathon in 2000 when I was 27 years old in just under 4 hours 30 mins and raised £1700 for Cancer Research.
I’m 49 now and my 12 year old daughter wonders why I never wear trainers. Lol

I might tell her one day.😊

I was in Moscow representing the U.K. at a (very niche and small) international conference and got to sit around a table with U.S and Ukraine representatives either side (with country place names in front of us). The really cool bit was the Russians gave us a private tour of the Kremlin Palace (including the Tsar Nicolas private rooms and the state rooms where Putin met Obama). This included an official escort there and back where the police stopped traffic for us!

A couple of things my DC are impressed with from my past:

Was shown round the Houses of Parliament, then had tea with Tony Benn.

Landed at Heathrow Airport in the cockpit and the Captain pointed out Buckingham Palace etc.

Hiked down the Grand Canyon, stayed overnight at the bottom, then hiked out again at dawn. Went to Grand Canyon with DC years later and we did a marvellous trip including flying over it and sailing down it. That was pretty cool too.

The overnight sleeper train to leningrad was one of my favourite travel moments. It felt like I was in Dr Zhivago, all those snowy fields and the big samavar. We didn't get Caviar though.

A solo parachute jump.

You had to do a day's training first, and you were on one of those lines from the plane that automatically opens your parachute, and had a 2-way radio with a trainer on the ground, but it was still solo!

It was essentially the first stage of many towards serious parachute training.

I loved it and really regret not continuing the training and taking it up as a hobby.

Too old, fat, and liable to injure myself to take it up again now.

I was a dancer in the dance tent at Glastonbury festival circa 2021. No experience...totally blagged it and got the free performers ticket!

I drove coast to coast across Australia from Perth to Sydney in a six berth camper van.

I was offered a job in the intelligence service and have the country's highest security clearance.

Things that won’t out me:

At the theatre, I’ve sat: next to Dom Joly (didn’t know who he was but DH did ha); behind Jason from Gavin & Stacey; and sat a few rows in front of Alan Rickman. It was a school trip during Harry Potter fever so all of us were quietly going mad about Snape behind us 😄

Shot massive guns in the Australian outback

Been an extra on Made in Chelsea

Been on stage at a Horne Section show to trial a potential task for Taskmaster

And more stuff which I can’t say!! Bloody love life!!

Oh also stood elbow to elbow with Stephen Fry in the wings of some theatre. And sat behind the band at the royal Albert hall which is v fun but something anyone can do if you buy those tickets.