Country Life's 39 steps to a better life. How accomplished are you?

[HipposGoBeserk]

Link here.

I wish I could do most of them. I'll pass on the shooting, skinning, plucking and gutting though.

I can do 15.

arf Punkatheart.

has anyone here delivered a lamb and can tell us how different it is from delivering a baby?
because I bet most of us have swotted up on the latter in order to instruct our dps if we don't make it to hospital on time.

DS has my old childhood pony and can certainly ride to a fair standard for a 5 year old, but whats on earth is a "jackaroo standard"? Im not sure I would want anyone being a jackaroo whatever it is on my precious old nag??

SybilBeddows - the only thing I know about delivering lambs (and this from a vague memory of watching my dad help out at a lambing) was that they often get stuck and need to be pulled out by hand. How you do this without tearing the ewe or hurting the lamb I have no idea.

ah. possibly best not to put that on CV then.

I reckon anyone could address a member of the royal family - it doesn't say anything about doing it according to snobbish, outdated and patriarchal forms of etiquette.

I should've known that, being city bred, would make this list fairly irrelevant for me (did get a few though!) - MrsDeVeres list looks much easier

22

No no no BearCrumble, LeQ will tell us she can't because it is aspirational.

78. Hammer in a nail with the sole of a shoe
79. Change a lightbulb
80. Push a baby out your vagina
81. Entertain a child for 12 hours a day for 4 years until they go to school.

If ONLY they had been on the list my score would have been a smidge less shameful

I've done No 39! Delivered a lamb and even swung it around the air afterwards and before I get told off for animal abuse it is done to clear the air passage!

Interesting list and I ticked 17 of them.

Can´t do many, but not sure how my life would be "better" if I could do more.

Still, I´m sure the staff have got it more than covered between them

1. Cook three different dinner party menus yes
2. Say 'Can you help me please' in Arabic, Cantonese, Urdu, Spanish and Russian no can do Spanish, French and Russian.
3. Play a musical instrument, even if it's the tom-toms or a mouth organ yes
4. Ride a horse to jackaroo standard yes
5. Be a 'tech whisperer', able to fix and set up the latest techno-gadgets. no
6. Talk about five classics of English literature with authority and passion yes
7. Perform resuscitation on someone who has stopped breathing yes
8. Know how to grow carrots from seed, distinguish five native trees, identify twenty flowers and arrange a bunch yes
9. Handle a shotgun, skin a rabbit, gut a fish and pluck a pigeon yes

10. Repair a bicycle puncture and fix the chain yes Can't actually ride one though 11. Dance the eightsome reel, waltz to Strauss and bop to Lady Gaga yes 12. Taste the difference between a Sauvignon Blanc and a Chardonnay and know how to mix a mojito or margarita yes 13. Write a memorable thank-you letter huh? 14. Recognise Mozart, Elgar and Handel no 15. Put up a shelf and change a plug yes 16. Tie a bow tie, bowline and Bloody Butcher (fishing fly) no 17. Sail a boat across The Solent no 18. Carve a joint of meat yes 19. Tell the difference between Gothic, Baroque and Palladian architecture yes 20. Make a speech, entertain an audience with a joke or an anecdote, and sing at least two songs by heart can't sing 21. Drive a tractor, reverse a trailer, renew engine oil and change a wheel yes 22. Find their way round five capital cities no No sense of direction 23. Host a party and put others at their ease yes 24. Sustain a 10-shot rally at tennis no 25. Build a bonfire and lay a fire yes 26. Perform three good card tricks no 27. Identify five constellations and find the North Star yes 28. Score a cricket match no Like watching it though 29. Talk knowledgeably about five British landmarks no woefully ignorant 30. Uncork and pour a bottle of Champagne yes 31. Iron a shirt, sew on a button and sew up a hem yes 32. Amuse small children for at least an hour with magic tricks and story telling no 33. Read a map, pitch a tent and pack a rucksack yes although I don't want to. 34. Be authoritatively acquainted with at least one work by da Vinci, Constable, Degas, Turner and Canaletto yes well I could waffle authoritatively 35. Know how to manage a bank account yes 36. Slip away from a football riot yes - run like fuck obviously 37. Address a member of the Royal Family yes 38. Complain effectively but politely in a restaurant yes 39. Deliver a lamb yes and a foal too.

I make that 26

Fifteen but parts of some others. Its not a bad list, especially if you live in the country, there are definitely some on there that I really ought to be able to do (in particular reversing a trailer - can drive a tractor but am really crap at managing a trailer).

I don't feel I am ever likely to need to address a member of the Royal Family though . . .

Can do 24 just about.

About 20 give or take, grew up in the country, was a girl guide - can score a cricket match :)

22 and that includes the memorable 'swinging the lamb' incident when visiting a friend's small holding when I was 15. .

You don't need to address the queen though, she comes ready stamped.

24, not good with lambs, rabbits or fish unless they come from m&s

Wow- 30. I never realised I was so accomplished

30 with a vague idea about the rest of them

22

20 for me...

wouldn't mind having a go at delivering a lamb....
No problem with opening a bottle of champagne....BUT personally I prefer a nice Asti

30 -[ dons pearl and awaits country life photographer]

what is 'jackaroo standard' of riding? What is equivalent pony club test/bhs stage? Am stuck on this one.

26 but very much to C- standard on most. I might stretch 27 if having watched all the episodes of All Creatures Great and Small qualifies me to deliver a lamb (in most cases it is just a case of catch, surely?).