One hundred challenges for birthday blogger

The tasks set have ranged from learning to do some plumbing, making a battenburg cake, to becoming the trustee of a charity, skydiving, bellydancing and taking an older, lonely person out for a meal.

“Of the challenges so far, my favourite I think was the busking - mainly for the huge turnaround between the dread I felt when someone put it on the list, and the hilarious and life-affirming experience that it actually was!” she said. “I was really thrilled to turn it into something fun, and key to that was having friends willing to take it on with me.”

Caroline (History with European Studies 1996) has set up a blog to record her experiences, which have seen her get in touch with old friends and create more meaningful relationships with loved ones.

“Another favourite was 'write to 10 people and tell them what I love about them'. It is surprising how much I found to say, that I have never said to those people before!” she explained. “And I got a fantastic response from my recipients, so that was very rewarding.

“I have also enjoyed all the random exercise classes, and most surprisingly, the knitting - I don't usually do anything that sedentary so it was quite a discovery to find how much I enjoyed sitting knitting quietly with my kids.

“Any challenge that has given me quality time with the children is also very satisfying - nice to take a break from crowd control and do something creative and fun!”

Caroline still has several more to tackle – including riding a unicycle and writing a story or an article.

“But I am absolutely loving the whole experience - I love writing, and I love creating interesting experiences and trying new things,” she said.