B132: Counting Clicks

11/6/2024

On 1 Nov 2019, just over 240 months ago, I published my first blog post on my bucketlist blog website 80b480.com. I was still recovering from my 2017 stroke and multiple organ failure and 12 months since I took redundancy from the Exchange. I had this vague idea that because I had come so close to dying I should make a list of all the things I wanted to do on my bucketlist and start

checking them off. I was also very grateful to be still above ground, so reminding myself of what had been done was also important. And the people I had done them with! Besides, the discipline of researching and writing the blog would also help rebuild my memory, logic and verbal skills damaged by the stroke. Although from the outside, I was looking more akin to “normal”, inside I felt far from it.

My 80b480.com homepage

So, I jotted down 80 things I wanted to do before I was 80. That made the name of the blog easy to remember: 80b480.com! The list came relatively easily because I broke it down into 10 categories:

Adventure
Nature & Wildlife
Creative
Entertainment/ Sporting Events
Food & Drink
Giving Back
Skills
Travel – General
Travel – Iconic Man-Made Wonders
Experiences

Because I had done a book-related website/ blog for “Dear Cathy, … Love, Mary” in 2015, I decided to use the same web host (Weebly) and domain register (Go Daddy). Weebly is probably not the best choice if you want your page to be picked up by search engines like Google, but I was only doing this as a hobby/(therapy 😊) so it didn’t matter to me so much. I had no interest in monetising it. I also sorted out the related gmail addresses and social media pages. The website layout would be important as I wanted to be able to blog every second week and tick off things as “✔️Done” on my bucketlist.

So, I started those first few posts by writing about some great places I had visited. There’s a saying in Irish “Tús maith, leath na hoibre” (a good start is half the work). This applies to blog writing too, it’s never going to be perfect but you just need to make a start…and it follows.

Except, a month after I started the blog, the world was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic….and that, together with ongoing health issues with Charlie and myself, put a bit of a stop to our gallop. Instead of doing stuff - like travelling - in real time, I have had to write about bucketlist items already ticked off. I still haven’t given up on travelling more to far away places but for the moment it’s on the back burner.

I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read all 132 blog posts up to now!! If you’ve missed some, be sure and check out the “Blog” page on 80b480.com which can be searched by date, category or from the “List” of items ticked off. Sorry if some of them are long-winded. I’ve really enjoyed getting your feedback and encouragement. I hope I’ve inspired you to have a list of your own. Life can be all too short, make sure you live it!