That 7/7 challenge

Some while ago Jonathan Calder nominated me for this 7/7 challenge thing. Never one to rush things, I have had seven weeks to mull it all over, so now here goes:

7 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE

1. Finish my Phd
2. Learn to speak Italian
3. Watch Scotland beat the All Blacks at rugby
4. Start driving again
5. Learn to appreciate classical music
6. Publish a book
7. See a Liberal Democrat MP elected for Watford


7 THINGS I CANNOT DO

1. DIY
2. Read an entire article by Polly Toynbee without cursing
3. Proofread my own writing
4. Stand Cliff Richard
5. Assertiveness
6. Support England at any sport
7. Telephone canvassing


7 THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO EDINBURGH

1. The wonderful railway journey from Kings Cross
2. St Giles Cathedral
3. The prospect of one day watching Scotland beat the All Blacks at rugby*
4. The pubs along the Royal Mile
5. The National Library of Scotland*
6. The new Parliament building
7. Dalmeny House*

* Still to do!

THINGS I OFTEN SAY

1. Hmmph!
2. Bollocks!
3. Absolutely
4. There was an interesting article in the New Statesman…
5. I've got 100 unanswered emails in my inbox
6. PCs don't actually work, you know – Macs are much better
7. I'm just popping out to the shop to get some beer

7 BOOKS THAT I LOVE

1. Sunset song – Lewis Grassic Gibbon
2. The fox in the attic – Richard Hughes
3. Death and nightingales – Eugene McCabe
4. Good behaviour – Molly Keane
5. Passion and cunning – Conor Cruise O'Brien
6. In the lion's den – Auberon Waugh
7. Africa and the Victorians – John Gallagher and Ronald Robinson

7 MOVIES I WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN

1. None, but if did then…
2. High plains drifter
3. White hunter, black heart
4. The good, the bad and the ugly
5. In the line of fire
6. Paint your wagon
7. The outlaw Josey Wales

7 PEOPLE I WANT TO JOIN IN TOO

All I could nominate have done it already.

INSTEAD – 7 favourite quotes

1. 'Compassion is the base currency of second-rate minds – a substitute for thought' – Auberon Waugh
2.'Some things are true, even if they are printed in the Daily Telegraph' – George Orwell (attr.)
3. 'Counterfeit philosophies have polluted all of your thoughts/Karl Marx has got you by the throat and Henry Kissinger's got you tied up into knots' – Bob Dylan
4. 'We all know that prime ministers are wedded to the truth, but like other married couples they sometimes live apart' – Saki (HH Munro)
5. 'By hating vices too much they come to love men too little' – Edmund Burke
6. 'The review pages of the daily, weekly and weekend quality press in Great Britain are still dominated by a generation of young, conservative historians and journalists who came during the Thatcher years to such intellectual maturity as they possess.' - Richard J Evans
7. 'I may have written nonsense. But my nonsense isn't the nonsense his nonsense says it is' – Conor Cruise O'Brien (attr.)

That's your lot!