50 before I am 50 Archives

50 Before I’m 50 – Visit the Lemmings Statue

As part of my Scottish road trip I mentioned on the Now page, I headed to Dundee as my partner had one thing she wanted to do (The V&A Museum) and I had one thing I wanted to do.

To see the Lemmings Statue.

The Lemmings Statue is a statue in a park close to the site of the home of DMA Design (now Rockstar North) and depicts three Lemmings climbing up one of the columns on the entry to the park.

Lemmings was probably the first computer game I ever really loved. I yearned for the Cartoon Classics Commodore Amiga box set, and I used to draw them on all my school notebooks. I even fancy dressed as one for a school Summer Fate.

Sadly the Commodore 64 version came rather late on, so I never got to play it much growing up, but eventually when my Grandparents inherited a Atari ST, one of the games was Lemmings – the box you see in the photos.

DMA Design – the programmers of Lemmings – eventually became Rockstar North and launched the whole Grand Theft Auto series. The rest is history.

Anyway, it is a very cool art installation in Dundee if you are ever in the area. We also had an amazing meal in Eastfield so recommend booking there if you go.

Another off my 50 before I’m 50 list!

50 before I’m 50 – Watch the Foo Fighters play live

It’s incredibly boring to talk about a music concert in text form, but yesterday I watched the Foo Fighters play live in Anfield, Liverpool as part of the Take Cover 2026 tour.

The first hour and a half was incredible, with me grinning throughout. I’m not afraid to say that during Learn to Fly I got a bit emotional and cried a bit. That song felt so fresh and so new, when we finally got a satellite subscription at the turn of the millennium and it was played all the time on MTV, and my go to song in the jukebox in The Marine after (and before, oopsie) I turned 18.

I didn’t appreciate the comments Dave Grohl made about playing an “Old School” song and it was off the Foo’s third album, and there were two songs I know they didn’t play that I loved (Next Year and Walking after You – I wasn’t sure they played Everlong but the set list said it did?), but overall a top gig. Would definitely dad rock again.

Also, I reckon given a few weeks practice I could solve a Rubik’s Cube faster than Dave Grohl’s daughter’s boyfriend. Just saying.

Also, before the gig I had some amazing sushi at Hibiki in Liverpool. Bit of a hidden gem, recommend going.

50 before I’m 50 – Learn to smoke meat

As part of my birthday present earlier this year, Fern got me a half day cooking course for Outdoor Dirty Cooking and smoking workshop from Howl Bushcraft, which took place a couple of Sundays ago. As part of the workshop, we learned to smoke fish, venison, and cook over an open fire using leaves to add flavour, and make cuts in meat, build vegetable and leaf wraps, and how to skewer effectively to ensure even cooking.

It was a delicious way to eat food. I think my favourite things were the smoked fish, the seabass and learning to make bannock bread, but it was all delicious. What was great was the ingredients were all largely supermarket bought – the flavour was added from the open plan cooking. Couple that with a beautiful surrounding of the Yorkshire countryside (the camp was located in the grounds of Harewood Estate), I had a fabulous time and would recommend it.

So another of my 50 before I’m 50 has been ticked off the list! I think from the above, definitely can do the leaf wraps on the barbecue (although I don’t trust myself to pick hedge garlic and burdock leaves you can replace with wilted cabbage) and I may try and build a rudimentary smoker, as the smoked haddock was incredible.

50 before I’m 50 – Go to The Cave

A few weeks ago (after completing the Stroud Parkrun which was incredibly hilly), I – along with a few folks from The Retro Asylum Discord – visited The Cave, a retro museum linked to the YouTube channel of The Retro Collective.

As annoyingly it’s been a few weeks since I attended, so I’m going to leave the images doing the talking, but if you’re ever in the area and you like nerdy stuff like I do it’s well worth paying a visit. The items in the cave and connected Arcade Archive are beautifully maintained – I am struggling to think of a Street Fighter II machine that was so looked after and presented, it worked perfectly.

Whilst I could wax lyrical about the day and the event (it was good seeing folks again also), I would rather pictures tell the story. I will say my favourite little gimmick was the WH Smith esque area where you could scan the games to play them on a Mister. That was effortlessly cool.

Another one from the list!

The excellent looking WH Smith esque store

If you ever get the chance to go, you should. The Cave is brilliant and would love to go back again one day!

50 before I’m 50 – Eat in a Michelin Starred Restaurant

Last weekend I completed another of my 50 before I am 50. I ate in a Michelin Starred Restaurant. The restaurant in question was Wilson’s in Bristol, and I went there with my partner to celebrate one of her friend’s birthday.

Sadly, I’m not Jay Rayner, and I do not have the vocabulary to accurately explain the food, except to say it was delicious. The six course tasting menu was using freshly grown herbs and vegetables from it’s own two acre farm. Really, they were the stars of the show – whilst there were fish and meat that were the main element of the dish, in reality the flavourful herbs were what made it a bit special.

I think the thing for me was I was expecting to be disappointed. I don’t know why. Naturally pessimistic – like you wait your life to see a band only to be terrible. In reality it was excellent. 6 decent portions of food, full of flavour, and also some great non alcoholic mocktails that – whilst not paired with the dishes – were great.

I did the wanky thing and take photos of all the food which are below.