Are there any skills you wish you could have acquired?

I always wanted to learn to play the drums and also I would have liked to learn golf.

Singing! I would love to be in a big choir which performs the famous oratorios like the Messiah, or Mendelssohn's Elijah and Elgar's Dream of Gerontius. But the truth is that I have never had a good singing voice. My sister used to nudge me when we sang hymns in church, when we were teenagers. I never got chosen for the school choirs . But still I just love those big choral works.

To play the piano by ear
Make my own clothes
Drive confidently anywhere including abroad
To complete all the maintenance jobs in my home that I have to pay someone else to do.

to swim. Had many sessions of lessons over the years but could never go to the pool and swim as a matter of course. would love to be able to do that!

Hi, Mollygo - I was wondering about Babbel but did not realise it is a paid only one. My dh and I have just started Dutch together on Duolingo. He told me it was easy but I'm not finding it so. I'll carry on until I get disheartened again.

NotTooOld, sorry you were disheartened (yes I did geddit-good pun!). You’re right about paying. I’ve been having a year’s subscription for my birthday present in order to keep going.
I did try Babbel, not free at all and about the same price, but you can only look at one language on that.
I really wanted German, but it’s been fun to do French which I’m quite good at, Portuguese, and Dutch. I just couldn’t manage Welsh.

Somebody mentioned Duolingo for learning languages. I was learning Spanish on it and getting on really well but as the lessons got harder so I kept making more mistakes and therefore running out of hearts. You only get five hearts a day and you lose one every time you make a mistake. You then have to go back to the beginning of the lesson the next day when the hearts are replenished. I found this very disheartening (geddit?) and I gave up. Perhaps just me but I was sad not to be able to continue. If you pay, of course, this doesn't happen, only if you use the free version.

Like others, I would love to be able to play the piano. My mother paid for lessons when I was young but I didn't get on with them and wasted her money, I'm afraid. If I had the chance again I would try harder.

For those of you who have mentioned the skill of touch typing, it really is easy to teach yourself. There are many books out there and probably apps, too. You could learn in a weekend if you put your mind to it.

Having the gift of the gab would go a long way to allay my anxiety/stress levels I unfortunately battle with daily.

Would definately help with all the professionals involved in my poor Mum's care, who have had predominance and not allowed my own Mother's daughter and only family she sees to carry out her God given right to be the family my Mum needs at a time as such.

Good luck Rosie51. I meant to add that nothing I’ve tried so far has enabled me to say more than bore da and sut wyt ti to my Welsh relations-and when they took that to mean I could speak Welsh, I couldn’t understand their answers.

Jennyluck you can learn Spanish on Duolingo.

Thanks Mollygo I'll investigate Duolingo and Memrise. Still not convinced this old dog can learn new tricks but I'll try

Rosie51
It’s not to late to learn a language. You can always dabble a bit to start with something free like Duolingo or Memrise just to get the feel, then maybe do online tutorials, which aren’t too expensive.
I brushed up my German to chat with my DB’s family like that.
I would suggest U3A groups, but you’ll be lucky if you don’t find that even the beginner classes have people who can already speak quite well and really should have gone into the next group up. Very off putting.
I’m fine with languages, music, computing and sewing. I just need your plastering skills!

I do wish I could speak another language fluently, and that I'd persevered with the piano.

I can crochet, knit, sew, tile, plaster, garden but I'd give so much to be able to speak a foreign language. I was rubbish at French at school, really poor at German. A few years ago son number 1 moved to San Diego, so thought Spanish was the way to go......absolute failure..........now son in French speaking area.....can't hardly remember a word of schoolgirl French.... Help! I NEED a foreign language but am too old to learn!

For a start:

drive, sew, knit, bake, play an instrument, wallpaper................ and the list goes on.

I was fortunate that I had ballet, tap and ballroom lessons and taught ballet, tap and modern jazz for a number of years. I can sew, knit and crochet and am a good swimmer, thanks to my parents taking me and my siblings from being babies but the one thing I would love to have learned is to play the piano.

I wish I could crochet. I have tried and tried to learn but just can’t get it. I would love to be a better knitter and dressmaker although my dress making is probably better than most I’d love to be really good at it.
I’d also love to sing and Br brilliant at at least one sport....any sport!!

Driving.

To ride a horse! Oh how I wanted riding lessons when I was a child (there were no horses near to where I lived, and couldn't afford it even if there were). Now that I have time and can afford it there are still no horse stables within 100 km of where I live. I have occasionally been on a horse, but never had lessons. Maybe one day I will sign up for horse camp...

And shamefully my French is terrible. I had a French father and bilingual mother, but we all answered back in English. Even with lessons in school it didn't really stick. I had been doing lessons in Duolingo before a trip to France, but once I started speaking, people would answer me in English, so it must be terrible! For shame...

I would have loved to play an instrument, the piano round have been lovely. I am tone deaf and love to sing too.?

Several people have mentioned that they wished they had learned the piano. It really is never too late. I have taught adults of all ages and it is a joy for both pupil and teacher. A reasonable digital piano can be bought quite cheaply and, although teachers are online at present, this is not a problem. We will be back in person before too long. It really is not unusual for someone to take up a musical instrument in retirement. Give it a go.

Like many others, I would love to have learned to play an instrument, or read music.

I can sew, or could when I could see well (I'm now partially sighted). My Grandma taught me to knit and crochet.

Likewise, I used to be able to sing well.

I have a smattering of other languages, as I always took a phrasebook when travelling abroad, and tried to learn at least a few useful phrases - though I doubt that I could hold a conversation for long! I owned a house in Bulgaria for 15 years (used only for holidays), and so learned some Bulgarian (very difficult).

Basic DIY skills.

I wish I had learnt to swim under water. Too late now.

I’d like to have skied like the rest of my family

I wish I’d learnt how to play the guitar my Mum gave me when I was 16. (I still have it ?)

I wish i learned at an early age how to tell people to stop being nasty and horrible.
That came at a later date ,so it`s never too late to learn.
I also wish i could learn to lip read.