Challenge #26: Sarah vs Golf

It's a cold, wet, miserable and windy morning in February. I have a week off and by rights should be horizontal on my sofa with some punk rock blasting out of the stereo, a good book in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other. Instead, I am stood in a soggy field trying to hit a ball with a stick.

When I added 'play a round of golf' to my list of things to do before 30 I envisioned blue skies, blazing sunshine and ice creams. I thought it would involve sun cream. Unfortunately, the summer of 2012 was heavy on the vile side and heavy on the rainfall, which is why I had put off the task. If I had known it would mean playing golf in the drizzle on a February morning I think I would've gotten it over and done with earlier.

So here I am at the Melton Mowbray golf course at 10am. 

Ready to tee off.

I've got all the professional gear on,

leopard print wellies and skinny jeans.

I took many chunks out of the grass.

I put them back though.

I know you're thinking it must've taken

me ages to tee off, but after missing

the ball completely the first time I

actually hit it on the second attempt.

I was impressed even if you're not.

It's in!

Wow, it only took 16 shots to complete one hole - I'm a natural!

This was on the second hole.

At this point I got bored and pretended to play

polo on an imaginary horse.

I don't need drugs to have a good time. 

I made improvements on the second hole and

managed to get it in with just 12 shots.

Confession time...

I known I said I was going to play a round of golf, but it took me over half an hour to play two holes. TWO HOLES! Plus it was cold and damp, so I called it a day after just the two. I still gave it a go though and did try really hard, but it is quite difficult to hit a ball with a stick. It's also not the most thrilling sport. Maybe in the summer it's more fun, but I don't recommend playing it for the first time in this weather.

Verdict: I gave it a go, so I win.

Challenge #25: Sarah vs the Bucket List

This wasn't on my original list of things before 30, as it came as a bit of a surprise challenge that I thought I would be waiting a very long time to do.

Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road' sat on my bookshelf for about 10 years before I finally got around to reading it. I was packing my belongings up ready to move out, deciding what to keep and what to give away. Even though I hadn't made the effort to read it, I was reluctant to give it up. I sat on the floor and read a couple of pages, telling myself it would have to go if I couldn't get into it quickly, and ended up reading the whole book. Since then it has been my favourite book.

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..."

The story of how Kerouac wrote 'On The Road' on one huge scroll of paper - supposedly in a three-week burst while on benzedrine - has always fascinated me and in my head I thought one day I would go and see it on display in America. So when I heard that the scroll was heading for the British Library late last year I had to go and see my favourite book in its original form.

The original 'On The Road' scroll

Me and the scroll.

A few facts about 'On The Road'

• The original scroll manuscript, typed by Kerouac in a three-week burst, measures 120ft
• It's only been fully rolled out twice
• It was bought for $2.43 million (£1.51 million) in 2001 - the highest ever amount for a literary manuscript
• That's $20,250 (£12,555) per foot
• It has a typo on the first line - 'I first met met Neal...'
• The end of the scroll was chewed by a dog
• More than 10 million copies of 'On The Road' have been sold - I own two of those

Verdict: WIN!

Challenge #24: Sarah vs The Nationals

It's a long time since I had anything published in a national magazine or any magazine now I think about it. I thought setting myself the challenge of getting something published nationally would spur me on to get writing and help me to keep my hand in features. Since I began working in PR I've been really worried that I will lose this skill, so writing other stuff is important to me.

I tried pitching my '30 before 30' thing to a couple of publications, but it's hard to get anyone to take any notice and I gave up. I realise now that this was a mistake, that I should have put a bit more effort in and worked a bit harder at it, but with two days to go before I turn 30 it's too late to be working on it now.

However, I do have a way of cheating through this challange in order to say I've completed it. My cunning plan involves using an article that was published in the Guardian last summer and passing it off as my own, because the basis of it was my own. You see, my press release about the country's first woodfuel co-operative made it into the Money section of the Guardian. Yes that may be Rupert Jones' name on there, but I did the donkey work so I'm claiming it as my own. Told you I had a cunning plan.

Guardian article from my press release

Verdict: It's not quite what I had in mind and it's not my byline, but I don't have enough time to be picky type of win.