Options for your free time (article 55)

The following article im writing so that whenever you have some free time outside of work youll be able to come to this article to find ideas for how to spend your leisure time, i hope you find this useful to help you use your free time better.

Airshows eg duxford in cambridgeshire to see hundreds of differneny old and new aircraft flying past pulling off stunts and manouvers..very impressive displays make a nice day out.

Auctions.. buy or sell things either online or at say government auctions.

Art.. why not draw or paint something get creative.

Astronomy.. when was the last time you bothered to gaze at a clear night sky to see thee moon or planets or constelations of stars? well then go for it its amazing what joy youll get from this.

Audiobooks.. listen to someone reading a good book instead of wearing your eyes out reading a book.

Air racing.. go see a plane race!

Archeology..find out if there are any archeology digs near you then go have a look at whats being uncovered.

Blackberry pick.. these lovely fruits are ripe in late september and make for a great blackberry and apple pie.

Badminton.. if you fancy whacking a really light shuttlecock across a net this can be fun.

Blog..write an online journal of your thoughts or diary or turn it into a proper website like ive done.

Baseball.. american game nice to watch live or go to a park and play it yourselves.

Birdwatching.. go to the countryside with a pair of binoculars and try and find different birds.

Bike rides.. get on your cycle for fitness, fresh air and to explore your local area.

Boxing..use a punch bag to release your stress or for fitness

Butterfly catch or observe, in the summer go outdoors to see these beautiful creatures or go to a specialist butterfly farm where hundreds of differnet kinds are kept indoors in greenhouses.

Bowling..lawn bowls if your old of ten pin bowling indoors..bores me after a few goes but you might like it.

Beach..got to the beach! everyone loves beaches when the weathers good go get a suntan, pick up some pebbles for your garden, find shells, paddle in rockpools or the sea go for a walk..lots of things you can do.

Bonfires.. raditionally something we brits do on november the 5th to celebrate guy fawks night

Boating..great fun hire a boat and slowly explore waterways at a leisurly pace, sunbath as you go along.cook onboard, see wildlife and get away from it all.

Barbeque..cook outdoors, try not to burn it though!

Cycling..same as biking

Cook.. when was the last time you bothered to go buy ingredients for a proper recipe and then spend the time and effort cooking a lovely meal? we should all cook more often this is a vital skill being lost as we all eat out or buy supermarket ready meals that are usually unhealthy and no where near as nice as a home cooked meal.

Carboot sales.. go bargain hunting on sunday mornings usually, go hunt through dozens of peoples unwanted goods, you will find some great bargains and its actually fun hunting for stuff at car boot sales.

Competitions.. try entering some competitions most emails you sign up to from companies occasioally have competitions on them to win cars, holidays, computers etc to be honest ive found youll win one thing for roughly every 1-2 thousand competitions you enter! but if the prize is something you want enter the competition..who doesnt want £10,000 for 1or2 minutes work?

Campaign..if theres an issue your passionate about such as stopping a war, green issues like global warming etc start a campaign organise a meeting or protest..things will only chnage if you make an effort.

Camping.. go sleep in a tent in the countryside of in a caravan..get back to basics living with just a few items.. not fun if its cold or wet!

Cinema.. everyone loves a good film, unfortunatly hollywood seems to have run out of good new ideas at the moment but every now and then theres a film worth seeing.

Chess.. the boardgame for patient intellectuals! can be ok every now and then.

Computer games.. play games on your pc or use equipment like a playstation or xbox or nintendo gamecube.. im rubbish at gaming and many games are violent stupid rubbish but there are a few games worth playing..pacman still rules!

Card games.. play poker or any other card game..get a few friends together and have an evening of poker.

Climbing.. go to an indoor sorts hallt o learn rock climbing..dont try and learn up a cliff face!

Comedy.. watch a comedy video or dvd or go see a live show we all love to laugh or play a practical joke on someone.

Charity.. do something for a charity you support..give your time to helping them help promote them.

Concert.. go to a gig to hear live music check your local clubs for event details.

Circus.. go see a circus they can be entertaining.

Diy.. do it yourself..building shelves, painting the house etc.cheaper and more dangerous than hiring someone else to do it usually!

Drive.. well our planets in deep trouble so only go for a drive occasionaly to explore areas youve not seen before.

Draughts.. the board game quite popular for children but why grow up have a game whatever age you are.

Date.. go on a romantic date with a love one or someone your trying to get to know, typical things to do on a date.. go to a restaurant, the cinema, a gig , a walk, etc

Exercise.. that thing so many of us now dread..learn to enjoy it begin slowly cycle,jog,run,play tennis, use an exercise bike, go to a gym and lift weights..there are so many things you can do that count as exercise.. your body needs it just as you need food and water exercise is vital..make it more enjoyable by doing it with somene else.

Eat out..if you trust someone else to cook your food visit a restaurant i think its better to cook food yourself.

Fossil hunt..find out if theres anywhere near you where you could find fossils...if you find dinosaur bones youll be famous, or start small and look in chalk cliffs for old sea life etc.

firework displays.. always nice but stay safe, better to see a professionally organised event.

fencing.. out of reach(excuse the pun) of most people so use carboard tubes instaed to whack each other!

Fishing..if you like life at a very slow pace go fishing..i understand fishing if your going to eat what you catch but i dont see the point of spending all day catching fish and then throwing them back into the river!

Football or soccer to americans..great game instead of watching it on tv try and get a few mates to got to a park and play a game its great fun and exercise.

Film fetivals..most big cities hold a festival once a year showing more obscure films usually but sometimes a film worth seeing will be on. Cannes is the worlds biggest film festival and the sundance film festival is also well known.

Gym..see exercise

Gig..go to a live music concert loud music, crazy lighting, people dancing having fun and drinking!

Geneology.. investigate your family tree to find people your related to, the internet has many sites devoted to this hobby.

Golf.. the sport where you walk miles hitting a little white ball around, not my cup of tea but a little outdoor exercise cant be all bad.

Gardening.. if you have a garden go sort it out, plant flowers and fruit and vegetables make the best use of your land..great place to relax in when the gardenings been done.

Horse racing.. again not something im too keen on, but if you like horses go watch a race live.

Hack.. learn to hack into computers if you have an organisation you hate..there are plenty of nasty websites that hackers should destroy..but be warned this is illegal.##

Instant messenge..use something like yahoos free instant messenger to chat in real time to friends.

Jacuzzi.. if you dont have one lots of gyms do now..but be warned their a breeding ground for germs so make sure theyre really well cleaned reguarly.

Karting.. go karts.. little cars always fun whether indoors of outside, get your adrenaline pumping and your competitiveness great for men and women.

Lotto play some lotterys, theres plenty of free lotterys you can do see my article number 42, devise a way to pick your numbers such as marking numbers on pingpong balls or golfballs so you can do your own random picks out of a box, uk national lotto costs £1 a ticket and the odds of winning are 14 million to 1, most free lottos cost nothing to play and have higher odds of winning roughly 80million to one so theyre harder to win but its not imposible.

Museums..many available full of wonders use my google search bar to find local museums.

Metal detect.. another obscure hobby you could maybe try one day, cheap new metal detectors can be bought for around £25 upwards you never know you could find a £250k gold torque in a field.

Mountaineer.. go climb a mountain! best to go with someone experienced as its dangerous so prepare well and be prepared to get knackered.

Magic..go see a magic show or try learning a trick yourself to impress your friends.

Massage.. we all love a proper massage to help us unwind and relieve aches and pains so offer your partner a massage, there are plenty of books available on how to do this properly so theres no excuse for not trying.

Nightclubs.. mostly young people like these for the chance to meet people, get drunk and dance, keep an eye on your drinks though as dodgy people will try and take advantage of somepeople.

Nature hunt or walk.. go outdoors and look for wildlife to photograph or just see, the worlds full of amazing things from insects to birds to animals stop only following human activities on tv stop watching so much rubbish about celebrities and learn from nature instead.

Politics. debate something with friends or online in a chatroom , get involved dont leave politics to politicians..you see the mess theyve made of everything they touch! you must have some issues your passionate about..global warming, nuclear weapons etc so do something about it.

Party..we all like a party good music flirting with people, drink food if your lucky these days! but expect things to get broken or stolen if too many strangers turn up.

Pool..the table game like snooker, mainly men like this but theres no reason why women cant be good or enjoy it too.

Philosophy.. bet you cant even explain what that is easily! so go look up what it is and learn some, everyone should learn some philosophy.

Poker.. now becoming very popular online as its illegal to gamble in so many countrys its emerged online now making billions of dollars for the companys running these sites..gambling is a good way to loose money so play offline with friends for fun.

Photography..go find things to capture on film or digitally, everyone enjoys being shown photos.

Planespot.. go near an airport and watch aircraft takeoff or land ..hopefully not crashing!, ill bet next time you get on a plane you dont even know how or why a plane can fly! so go find out.

Pacman the brilliant computer game..namco 3in1 toy that requires aa batterys and you plug into a tv is great fun but you can also play online for free but its better using a joystick.

Pubs..alcoholics rejoice in december 2005 uk pubs can no stay open longer than until 11pm! its an unhealthy way to spend your free time, so be sensible and never drink and drive..not even 1 drink is ok if your going to drive.

Picnic..on a nice day take a blanket and cutlery, some home made food and drink and go find a nice place in the countryside, a lovely relaxing thing to do especially with your partner.

Punting..its a cambridge and oxford thing..long thin boats you stand on and push a long pole into thre river bed to push yourself along the river..its about £8 an hour plus a £50 deposit roughly can be fun on a hot day taking your time going out into the countryside slowly.

Paintball..shoot your friends with small rubber balls filled with paint!..itll bruise you so its not one for the ladies more a macho thing running around in woods trying to shoot people.

Read.. theres more books available than ever before.. a few of which are good! choose things thatll help you in life like self help books or philosphy or a autobiography or the joy of sex! " thats not a beard".

Radio.. thanks to the internet you now have acess to millions of radio stations around the world broadcast online 24 hours a day, you can find stations dedicated to whatever music you like and other topics like news or current events.windows media player or realplayer play most of these stations and if you want to record internet radio now you can.look on download.com for the software youll neeed to do this. i recomend bbc.co.uk/ radio1 at 1-3am sunday mornings or listen again anytime in the next week after this show called the essential mix is first broadcast..each week radio1 has one of the worlds best djs play a set for 2 hours..the type of music played is mostly house/trance/dance/techno id say 70% of these shows are really good.

Rounders.. just like baseball get a small bat and any ball and go to a park and play this.

Restaurants.. get someone else to cook for you and do the washing up..but at a price, lots of choice wherever you are these days, nice to go once in a while.. i think they should all have open kitchens so you can see your food being prepared as ive heard horror stories about the hygene levels in most restaurants.

Run.. for exercise.go for soft ground as constant pavement punding will damage your knees, run for charity in a marathon if your fit enough.

Shop..again thanks to the internet (net) you can shop 24hours aday 365 days ayear globally! before you buy anything online you must read my advice in articles 9 10 and 12, there are many things that can go wrong when shopping online so take the time to read my advice, if you need help with anything leave me a comment at the bottom of the article please.

Study..if you can afford it why not take evening classes to learn something useful, good way to meet a new bunch of people also.

Skip.. get a rope and jump! boxers do it for fitness so its not totally girlie to do this.

Swim.. whether at an indoor pool full of chlorine or in a river or the sea, not my cup of tea but its exellent exercise.

Seaside..see beach

Subath..nice and relaxing but be sure to use suntan lotion as youll get skin cancer if you dont apply this, listen to a radio outside be careful not to fall asleep or you may wake up as red as a cooked lobster!

Self help..spend some free time reading about any way to help any medical condition or phobia you may have or how to be more positive and get what you want from life, their are plenty of self help audio books available too.. american anthony robbins is popular.

Soapbox challenge.

Stocktrade.. try and invest spare money to make more..take your time to learn how it all works its complex and your liable to loose money but once you understand how it works you can make loads of money. For example if you had bought google shares when they first started being traded at $85 a share just 1 year later your investment would have quadroupled in value!

Sauna..thank the swedes for this, go sit in awooden hut sweat it out and then go jump in a cold lake! crazy if you ask me but some peope enjoy this.

Stargaze.. go look at the stars at night, gods putting on a display for you.

Sex.. the best thing to do in your free time!, experiment with new positions, in different rooms in differnet clothing explore your sexuality

Tennis.. a great game, good exercise and fun to play with someone else all you need are raquets and a few tennis balls and somewhere to play, drink water and rest if you feel tired.

Travel..either locally to find new villages or further afield to other cities or towns or even abroad.

Treasure hunt..some local papers organise these sorts of things, irecall a company in engkand a few years ago buried about 10 new cars around the uk and gave out clues for you to find them!

Theatre..plenty of plays to go see, i dont like this form of entertainment but maybe you will.

Twister..those cloured circles you put your hands and feet on fine if your a kid more fun when youve grown up and your playing with your partner!

Television..its down here near the end of my list but its what the vast majority of people now devote their leisure time to..sitting on our arses barely moving for hours on end watching other people do all the things we should be doing instead of watching others do them! an organisation called whitedot wonderfully explains why we should stop watching tv find its adress in my article number 42 which lists the worlds best websites.

Video games..playstations or nintendo or xbox games are hugelly popular now idont see the attraction of pressing buttons endlessly to make graphics on a monitor move..too many are extremely bad for kids and adults, teaching people to fight and joyride is dangerous and irisposible.

Woodland..when was the last time you went into a wood? theyre full of wildlife, trees! and are what this palnet should be covered in, unfortunatly our woods are dissapearing fast so go check them out while there are still some left.

Wildlife hunt..see nature hunt

walk.. its what our legs are for but in modern society its amazind how little we now walk..get out of your car you lazy fool and exercise by walking to places.

Wild food hunt..research online where to go and what to find locally such as wild mushrooms or herbs and berrys then go get some..be careful some mushrooms are deadly!

Yoga.. more a thing women enjoy..lazy exercise but i guess its relaxing.

Zoo go visit a zoo most people love animals and it makes a nice day trip.

well i hope ive given you loads of options on what to do when your not working..stop just watching tv, before you know it youll be old and youll have done very little but sit on your arse staring at a small coloured screen..try something new each week..varity is the spice of life.