Anybody have any suggestions for interesting things to do in Cambridge on one's own at a weekend? Preferably things which are cheap, and absorbing enough to take my mind off other things.
I would like to think that I would get a digital camera and cycle to places with crumble down walls and ivy on the turn, or patches of water and take pictures in this glorious early September light. Or find a dog, and walk it to death, and then cook brownies and invite people around to watch a film on the MEGATASTIC television.
In reality, I would spend far too much time on the internet, worrying about mundane tasks that I am not doing.
In reality, I would spend far too much time on the internet, worrying about mundane tasks that I am not doing.
Yeah, my fallback option is spending the weekend oscillating between wasting time and money on the internet, reading Saint books, drinking too much Coke, and trying not to cry.
The photo-taking idea sounds good. Especially since I have Proper Camera to get to grips with some time. Maybe I will do that.
Typical bloody cat-lover. I'm surprised you didn't suggest cooking the poor thing, too.
I'm off to the Shackerstone festival (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ChrisSimmons/steam_and_canal.htm) with friends, otherwise I'd suggest a meat. I'm afraid my solution to needing something absorbing and brain-deadening over the last few days has involved Albert Ayler being played at high volume, beetroot being boiled, and watching Father Ted for hours. This may not be helpful. Sorry.
True. And there are such wonderful things to do on ones' own. Cleaning. Shopping. Redecorating. Clipping toenails. The list goes on and on, as indeed do I.
No, there aren't that many wonderful things to do on one's own, which is why -- on finding myself with time to kill but not really in a mood to face sociable company -- I asked for suggestions.
find an O/S map.. drive someplace south of cambridge that seems to have lots of paths/white roads/streams.. go for a walk. (with camera for streams/churches) [south of cambridge because then you won't be able to see the entire walk from the starting point]
we've had nice walks from bartlow, hadstock, ashdon and castle camps.
I've taken to gardening or cross-stitch as things to do on my own.
They absorb me enough to not dwell (most of the time) and there's something created at the end of it.
My cats still haven't eaten any of the chilli's on the chilli plant I put in the herb bed the other day :( I want to teach them an important moral lesson about weeing in the herbs.
Actually, it would be the getting out part that's the hypothermia-inducing time. Keep a big towel near the pool.
What's that house called, an artist of some description lived there and it's a museum now full of his stuff and stuff he collected over the years? Kettle's Yard, that's the place. Can't remember if it's a) free/cheap or b) open at weekends, but I enjoyed wandering around there.
Various solitary things I do at weekends: Cycle around some bit of countryside. Spend most of the day after a party feeling hungover. Get utterly engrossed in some pointless computer game. Go to London, do Something Cultural (or not). £12.60 for a travelcard probably doesn't count as cheap though. Photograph stuff. Cook complex meals for one using 18 saucepans, then do the washing up. Lie around listlessly getting vaguely irritated by Radio 4 and thinking I should be doing something better with my time.
Public library? Google for "great-brain-quiz" and print off the current one (no online answers to tempt you), then spend a few hours groaning over reference books. Sounds a bit worthy but honestly, an hour trying to decode Wisden and you'll forget the rest of the world exists. :-)
Well, I cycled to Chatteris and back. Frankly parts of that are as 'on your own' as I've been in a long time, probably a mile from the nearest person, but I'm not sure it takes your mind of anything at all, I tend to brood when cycling, what I really need is a dynamo attached to a radio.
What I really want is one that's wired to AC anywhere, so it can be used for radio but also mobile phone charging. I fear I may have misoverestimated the potential power output of such a device, though...
Crystal earphone on the radio bit; that's the ticket. Takes hardly any power at all.
I'm fairly certain that I have read of a hand charged mobile phone charger. You basically want a Fuck Off spring and a few gears and small motor. And then the current regulation stuff surrounding it. I still think the best bet is to cannabilize a wind up radio, though, to get the dynamo bit out of it.
Ah, but I don't want earphones on this radio, I don't mind competing sounds, but I don't want something that actually blocks out traffic noise, if I'm cycling.
The wind up radio would do that anyway; as it is designed to support speakers. The trick would be to hook the pedals up to the handle so that it recharged while cycling. The extra problem is now to produce a regulated current of adequate size for the phone charger.
This is worth an LJ entry on its own.
Um. I can add you to my friends list if you want to make the post?
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In reality, I would spend far too much time on the internet, worrying about mundane tasks that I am not doing.
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Yeah, my fallback option is spending the weekend oscillating between wasting time and money on the internet, reading Saint books, drinking too much Coke, and trying not to cry.
The photo-taking idea sounds good. Especially since I have Proper Camera to get to grips with some time. Maybe I will do that.
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Thanks for the standing invitation. Will bear it in mind. But I may well just end up hiding under a rock. :-/
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Typical bloody cat-lover. I'm surprised you didn't suggest cooking the poor thing, too.
I'm off to the Shackerstone festival (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ChrisSimmons/steam_and_canal.htm) with friends, otherwise I'd suggest a meat. I'm afraid my solution to needing something absorbing and brain-deadening over the last few days has involved Albert Ayler being played at high volume, beetroot being boiled, and watching Father Ted for hours. This may not be helpful. Sorry.
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I've not been in the Shiny New Fitz Museum, but that might be worth a look and is free.
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Been to Anglesey Abbey a few times, probably wouldn't bother again. Nice to stroll round in company but not really so much fun on my own.
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Meet up with other LJ-ers who have sod all going on this weekend. Although I have to be in Leicester - Yay! - on Sunday afternoon.
Said N, who might use LJ's new photo-hosting page to put up some of the snaps he took, pottering around Cambridge last Thursday afternoon.
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Doesn't really count as stuff to do on one's own...
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Redecorating is a possibility, though.
And tidying is almost certainly a necessity.
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we've had nice walks from bartlow, hadstock, ashdon and castle camps.
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They absorb me enough to not dwell (most of the time) and there's something created at the end of it.
My cats still haven't eaten any of the chilli's on the chilli plant I put in the herb bed the other day :( I want to teach them an important moral lesson about weeing in the herbs.
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I suppose hypothermia does rather take one's mind off lesser things, though. :-}
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What's that house called, an artist of some description lived there and it's a museum now full of his stuff and stuff he collected over the years? Kettle's Yard, that's the place. Can't remember if it's a) free/cheap or b) open at weekends, but I enjoyed wandering around there.
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Cycle around some bit of countryside.
Spend most of the day after a party feeling hungover.
Get utterly engrossed in some pointless computer game.
Go to London, do Something Cultural (or not). £12.60 for a travelcard probably doesn't count as cheap though.
Photograph stuff.
Cook complex meals for one using 18 saucepans, then do the washing up.
Lie around listlessly getting vaguely irritated by Radio 4 and thinking I should be doing something better with my time.
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I'm fairly certain that I have read of a hand charged mobile phone charger. You basically want a Fuck Off spring and a few gears and small motor. And then the current regulation stuff surrounding it. I still think the best bet is to cannabilize a wind up radio, though, to get the dynamo bit out of it.
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This is worth an LJ entry on its own.
Um. I can add you to my friends list if you want to make the post?