I was only joking...

...about giving Bronwin an adventure involving displaying thrush remedies to the public on Oxford Street. I sometimes worry that my IWAA plans could be jeapordised by a lack of seriousness on my part. Adventures to me might include missions that are flippant, or even downright silly (I've come up with some really cool flippant missions!!!) but to other people adventures might only mean missions that are dangerous, challenging and heroic. I think some of my silly missions may include elements of heroism and danger, but 'running a lucky dip shop' may not be everyone's idea of a proper adventure. Which is why I don't want to be the one deciding what an adventure is. This has to be about more than me and my idea of adventure. You probably know by now I don't know what 'adventure' means in any case.

I've written to the three would-be-adventurers I've heard from so far, and asked them to try to come up with an adventure idea each. The plan is to have a sort of adventure exchange. People submit an adventuring idea, I add them to my mission database, handily scribbled on a scrap of paper next to my PC, and then I'll try to match a suitable mission to each would-be-adventurer. That's the plan for now anyway. But I am just making all this up as I go along, so it may well change.

And I really like 'I'm Not A Virgin's police moving along idea. I think this could be fun and exciting. These are surely requirements of any good adventure!

However this mission does seem like an adventure for a group, a 'band of would-be-adventurers'. This started out as just me saying 'I want an adventure!' So when I thought about the IWAA idea I imagined lonely, unfulfilled people - people like me - emailing me because they wanted a challenge; so that they could find a little bit of excitement to fill their dull spare time. But would-be-adventurer Sukh, mentioned that he'd like to meet likeminded adventurous people. And I can see that being part of a band of adventurers might be quite fun. Using IWAA to get together with other lonely, unfulfilled, but yet adventurous people, seems like a nice idea. I just hadn't thought of it. As I said I'm making all this up as I go along.

Sukh also seemed quite put off by the Thames Swim. In fact, in an attempt to wriggle out of getting wet myself, when he wrote to me in July saying 'I want an adventure' I sent him my first mission. I didn't want to do it, and my thinking was that as long as someone accomplishes it, does it matter who. As long as the result is obtained by some adventurous soul, that will be good enough for me (And I make up these rules! as I go along...) So I was hoping Sukh would send me a picture with him swimming in the Thames with the London Eye in the background, then I could easily send this photo to the anonymous challenger who gave me this wonderful mission in the first place. But it was not to be.

He said he didn't want this kind of adventure, which also makes me realise that I should be sensitive to all would-be adventurers needs. I really wouldn't mind at all if people wrote in and said 'I want an adventure - but just an easy one'. Or even 'I want an adventure but I live in a small village in Albania, and I'm partially sighted and agrophobic, can you find me an adventure suited to my special adventuring needs?' Any and all 'I want an adventure' emails are very welcome. Believe me.

At least now I have a start, with one mission (thank you INAV) so it might be best if people wrote in and said 'I want an adventure, and I'd like to be part of a group meeting up to do something silly in Central London.'

As it stands it would be quite a small band of adventurers, particularly as Sukh has said he doesn't want any adventure that takes place in public.

I should point out that I have used the names of Sukh, and Bronwen, and INAV on this website, without asking them if I could do this first. I did think of changing their names to protect their privacy. I thought I could change INAV to IAAV? But then I figured that in the whole of London (the UK?(the World?)) there must be an awful lot of Sukh's and Bronwen's and INAV's so their confidentiality is in this way protected. They'd be a lot more protected if their names were Tom or Sarah or Rob. But it's not my fault that strangely named folk are attracted to my adventure website. At least I don't have a silly name. But I'm protecting my own confidentiality, so you'll just have to take my word for it.