> This stems from an article from today's "Observer" newspaper in which they asked several celebrities and bright people (not that I'm saying that celebrities aren't bright...) what they wish they could do. A large proportion of them wished that they could speak a foreign language, something that I wish I could do as well (I have attempted to learn French, German and even Latin, to no avail.)
>
> Anyway, things I wish I could do...
>
> 1) Get a job - at least, a job that paid well. Being an umemployed student does have its downsides...
>
> 2) Fly a plane. I've always loved watching planes take off and land from my local airport - and I've always wished that I was on one of them, piloting it.
>
> 3) DIY. I'm hopeless at it. One time I tried to make a CD rack from scratch (well, from a couple of planks of wood - I can't magic things out of thin air) for a Design Technology project. I made the grooves for the CDs so thin, and put the two stands so near to one another, that in the end I used it for holding my 3.5 inch floppy disks.
>
> 4) Gardening. My dad is so good at it - whereas I don't so much have greenfingers than blackfingers. Every plant I touch seems to commit suicide.
>
> 5) Banish Anne Robinson to a far away island, from where she will never be able to escape. But I'm sure I'm not the only person who wishes to do this.
>
> Chris"Nobody is infallible - inflammable, yes, but not infallible"topher

My list parallels yours to some extent. I tried to learn to fly. After six half-hour lessons, I found that I could take off, fly around where ever I pleased, do stalls, and make turns. but landing was a different matter. I never learned to make a Piper Cub stay on the runway. Hit, bounce, float, hit, bounce, float, hit bounce float. End or runway, go around and try again.

I tried to learn to speak Spanish. I learned a lot of words and can actually read a menu, check into a hotel, and ask directions, but have never been able to carry on a conversation.

As for DIY, I can saw, but not in a straight line. I can drive a nail, but only halfway before it bends. I can drill crooked holes and get paint all over myself and the floor. I always turn bolts the wrong way first. And I manage lots of bleeding knuckles and purple thumbs, but other than that, DIY is not my thing.

I have found that I can plant a garden and grow plants to the point where they are destroyed by bugs and dry weather. The one thing I need to learn about gardening is when to quit. I'm a slow learner.

As far as jobs are concerned, I never found one that paid a lot of money, but I have been very successful at avoiding work for several years now.

Anne who?
Howard