Okay, so I never expected everything to be easy when I set out to achieve 100 goals, but I also never expected getting five blokes into a pub for a couple of beers to be the hardest thing I have tried to organise so far!!
I have now had a couple of tries at gathering 5 Ian Ushers together in one place, and came so close to success on Saturday, when we got four of us together! After all the effort in the week beforehand to try to gather a fifth Ian, I really felt like giving up on this goal.
But when I met the three other Ians, we had such a great afternoon and evening out, and they encouraged me not to give up on the idea. Their support for my rather random goal was very welcome and inspiring.
In the blog I have previously written off one of my other goals as unachievable too. The Worthing Birdman Festival (which used to be the Bognor Birdman Festival until Bognor Pier caught fire!) takes place this year in August, when I was scheduled to be climbing mountains in Colorado. However, with a bit of research, some planning, and the lucky discovery of a reasonably cheap return flight from Denver, the goal is still achievable! Never give up!!
Update 2020 – There is now an International Birdman event involving both Worthing and Bognor Regis – more information here.
And so on Saturday night the four Ian Ushers came up with another date to try to achieve the goal of gathering five or more of us, as well as securing Richard Branson’s very kind charitable donation offer of $500 per Ian gathered together.
We would like to invite any other Ian Usher along to join us in Worthing on the Birdman Festival weekend, which takes place on August 22nd and 23rd, two months from now.
The event looks very entertaining and quite spectacular, and attracts visitors from all over the world. Thousands of people are expected to come and witness this crazy, unique British event this year. The activities take place over two days, with the more serious and competitive flyers stretching their wings on Saturday, and the rest of the competitors plunging gracelessly off the pier on Sunday. I have entered in this second category!
So hopefully, with the help of some more Ian Ushers, I can achieve two goals in one weekend. Come on Ians, it will be a brilliant event! Make a holiday weekend of it!
As with almost all of my other goals, the offer is open to anyone else who wishes to come along and offer support and encouragement. Or just to laugh at me jumping off a tall pier! It really does look quite high in that video, doesn’t it?
Oh, by the way, I just realised earlier today that it was exactly one year ago today that the ALife4Sale auction started, and bids reached a crazy $2.2 million, before the bidding idiots were weeded out!! The year seems to have flown by since then, but in another way that all seems so long ago too. Isn’t the way we perceive time odd sometimes?