The WIP #14: The Bucket List

The Week in Photos (30 March - 5 April 2024)

A Florentine man in costume for the Easter march through the streets

The phrase “Bucket List” sounds like it has been around forever but, despite the best efforts of internet researchers, no one has been able to find it used before the release of the 2007 film of the same name starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson.

While the phrase “kick the bucket” has been around for since 1785, no one had the idea of combining it with a to-do list of things you want to do before you die.

My parents’ generation certainly don’t seem to think in such terms, seeming to prefer consistency and routine. They missed out on those early days of the internet when, for the first time, you could compare your life to anyone with a blog.

There was a trend in the noughties for life lists. People would write about their attempts to swim with dolphins or appear on a talk show. The most persistent of these lists are those containing places people want to visit, with wonders of the world like Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal coming top.

I hope that I’m not going to die soon but you never know. And, with my wife’s birthday providing a sense of mortality, we decided to go to Florence for the first time. I don’t have a bucket list but if I did Florence would be near the top.

Unfortunately, a lot of other people have the same idea. Florence is the very definition of a tourist trap, designed to fleece as much money from you as possible. The only saving grace is that it is inland and doesn’t have cruise ships constantly dumping day-trippers. It is still, however, a city of queues and cameras.

Our hotel was very central, just next to the cathedral. This was convenient for everything except a lie-in as, every morning, we would be woken by the clanging of bells.

For me, the main attraction of Florence is that it is the birthplace of the Renaissance—the merging of Christian faith with classical enquiry—and it is full of masterpieces by the geniuses of Western civilisation: Michelangelo, Cellini, Brunelleschi, and Botticelli. The Medicis, by establishing the fundamentals of capitalism, helped create the modern world, but we remember them because of their patronage.

Before I saw the original of Michelangelo’s David, I had seen three life-size reproductions¹ plus a million statuettes. None of these experiences diminished the real thing. The more something is reproduced, the more resonant it becomes. A million parodies just add to its aura. I had a similar experience with the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which felt uncannily different from any photo.

A bucket list is designed to be ticked off. Been there, done that, taken the selfie. But what are you left with beyond another photo? Was it worth it? Can you die happy as a result? This is the flaw in bucket list thinking: it isn’t meaningful to anyone who didn’t share the experience and, therefore, won’t be meaningful to you on your deathbed. By all means, travel to learn and create but what matters is the connections you make in life.

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Speaking of connections … last year, I met a Content Designer called Freya Cookson at UX Scotland. We chatted briefly about various topics, including social media usage. She mentioned that she had an Instagram account but didn’t use it much.

I looked her up, added her, and went back to whatever I was doing. It was only later that I realised I’d added another Freya Cookson. By the time I’d added the ‘right’ one, the other one had followed me back. It turns out she is a photographer and I have been enjoying seeing her posts.

Yesterday, she posted that she was part of a group show at New Glasgow Society and I popped in to finally meet this person from a different multiverse. We had a great chat and I was struck by how much she looked like one of my favourite philosophers, Simone Weil and created this composite to prove it.

1. One in the V&A, one atop a factory in Glasgow, and once in a square in Florence.