DONE: No.49 - Get 50 Selfies From The Challenges - The Final Huzzah, Part One

And so, the end is near.....50 challenges in a year, and 50 challenges now done and ticked off.  The final task, to collect 50 selfies from the challenges, completed when I got my selfie with Dave, the pilot of the wingwalk.

I'm really quite sad now.  This last year has been such a total blast (the challenge list that is) and a revelation.  I CAN do stuff if I set my mind to it and there IS a huge amount of fun out there to be had.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't exactly spend my first 49 years on earth in some sort of fun vacuum, I have been out there and I have been doing stuff and exploring and experiencing.  Just not quite at the same extent as this last year.

It might surprise folk to know but this particular challenge, getting the 50 selfies, I actually found extremely tough.  Initially it was my intention to get 50 photies only of me with people met through the year but this turned out to be hard for me.  Believe it or not, I'm actually naturally very shy!  Yep, if I know you, I'm confident and happy and appear an extrovert, but if I don't know you....It takes time to build a relationship doesn't it.  So, to randomly ask complete strangers if they wouldn't mind getting up close for a photo - I found it excruciating.  But, I'm glad I did when it was possible.  In the end I reckon just over half of these photos involved either another person or another 'thing' but there are loads which are pure solo selfies:

So many memories here, so many smiles in my heart.  I know the name of each and every person in these photos: Jason the penguin keeper, Dave the pilot, Billy the goat, Jay the glassblower, Alex the tank, Derek the weather, Sonia the quiz, Jo the St Johns Ambulance, Rivaldo the horse whisperer, Jon the farmer, Lion the horse, Ermintrude the cow, Dewi - my SAVIOUR, Emma the sheep farmers daughter, Basia the sushi chef, Liz the St Johns Ambulance, Liam the Segway, Ben the abseil, Olly the snowboarder, Timber the guide dog 💖, Ceri the velonteer, Rocky the extra miler, Vicky the O2 climber, Brian the bird, Jay the zipwire companion and Stewart - my darling and soul mate 💘

I know these names won't mean anything, but they deserve a mention and hopefully they read accurately from top left picture to the bottom.  It's important for me to shout out and log and document these people.  I couldn't have completed particular tasks without them.

The pictures themselves are pretty shit, a lot of them!  My selfie taking ability did not improve throughout the year but I do have a few favourites.

Firstly, and almost purely cos they are very good looking and totally got the whole challenge thing, are Liam the segway guide and Ben the abseiler:

Then, one which is of myself and it's just bonkers- it's the selfie I took at the top of London's O2 when I climbed over it in the summer, yes, the summer!  It was a tad windy!

Then, the man I described above as my 'saviour' - Dewi the quadbiker!  I was dreadful at quadbiking and crashed on my practice run and didn't get any better.  Dewi took me under his experienced wing and looked after and babysat me for the rest of the afternoon and I was so glad he did.  And he is just such a cool man.

And finally, my favourite pic - has to be the selfie with Timber, the guide dog in training we were looking after last year and who actually came along, took part and helped out with a number of my initial tasks.  Loved this dog and he was very photogenic and the photos just make my heart melt - yes, I know this accolade should actually be going to Stewart but I'll be thanking him in the final ever blog in the next few days, so in the meantime, my favourite selfie of the year, with Timber.