Anyone who has followed my ramblings thus far, will be aware that I turn Forty this year. I wanted to do something to mark this occasion and had a few thoughts.

Running a marathon was first up, but frankly, my knees are pretty much fucked after all the running I have done over the years. I fear that this is something that will never happen.

I did think about jumping out of a plane and I was inspired beyond belief after seeing this spellbinding jump by Felix Baumgartner but am ashamed to admit I haven’t got the bottle to attempt such madness. Gone are the days of bravado and Bungee.

A party seems a bit clichéd and there would be a headache on invites and format. My idea of a good night would perhaps bore the pants off most of my friends.

A holiday will be saved until next year as the missus reaches the same age, so a double celebration makes sense. Which leaves me looking for some other way of marking the naughty Forty.

So I finally settled on “Forty for Forty”. The initial idea was 40 gigs in one year, however I am late starting due to illness and to complete this would be a heck of an undertaking to find 40 bands I actually want to spend money on.

It also meant that I would have no time to do other things I quite like to do. So after 40 more seconds of thought, it seemed a no brainer to widen the net to 40 “shows” – this will encompass Theatre and Comedy as well as music.

My trip to London this weekend has kick started my quest with 2 shows in a day. Upon my return, 2 more shows have been booked, with an additional one going on sale this week.

It will still be a challenge as I will have to keep to a budget, but it should be an exciting ride. Feel free to keep tabs on my journey HERE.

Todays music comes from Johnny Marr – and the brilliant “Down on the corner” – as mentioned above, tickets for his show in Leeds go onsale on Wednesday, so fingers crossed he is added to the 40…

Enjoy…