Reluctant to spend the winter in front of the TV

[Cats234]

Dawned on me this evening that the weather has definitely changed and I get so bored just being sat in front of the TV all evening. I'm single and have very few friends.
What else do people do in dark cold evenings? I want to try and get back into reading but I find it very hard to focus.

I am close to giving up my TV tbh. I barely watch it anymore - awful, woke garbage. I mainly watch old films (which I can do on a laptop), go on YouTube, or listen to audiobooks.

I know what you mean though. Do you have a bath? I often take long baths in the winter. I fill it with bubble foam and lay there listening to Stephen Fry read Sherlock Holmes or P. G. Wodehouse. Bliss. Last winter, I listened to all the Narnia books. Childish, maybe, but who cares.

How about a reading project? You know, pick some heavy classic you’ve always meant to read - like Middlemarch or Bleak House. A friend of mine had to take early retirement, so she decided to read everything Virginia Woolf had ever written - every novel, letter, essay, etc.

Yoga is a good recommendation. Also baking, sewing, painting, weight-lifting. I often play chess online. How about a gym? Genealogy was another very good recommendation. I’d like to try an evening class, but the traffic round here is so awful I can’t face driving anywhere unless I have to. If I lived in a less crowded town, I’d definitely consider Italian or Spanish or something. How about learning the guitar? The best way to meet new people, I find, is through a mutual interest.

Podcasts
Long baths
Reading
I have a peloton so do spin classes, weights, stretching
Cooking with music on
Knitting
Play with the cat he will happily play fetch for hours
If the weather isn't awful then I outdoor swim but am a wimp so once it's wetsuit type, I stop! Sometimes I go to watch/take photos/chat anyway and just wrap up warm as it's a nice walk to the river

I'm teaching myself German and a musical instrument. Just a little bit most evenings soon starts to add up to gratifying progress.

I also listen to audiobooks (because it's easier on the eyes in winter) and besides listening to (easy!) German ones, I like to learn stuff through audiocourses (eg The Great Courses ones on Audible) .

A relative does online adults ballet and online pilates classes. Another attends online and in-the-pub bookclubs.

I've joined a choir which I do once a week. It's very informal, just pay as you go in a pub, but it gets me out. I also try and see a friend one night a week, or two if possible. Sometimes I go to the cinema straight from work.

Over the years I've done: Pilates class, social badminton (you don't have to be good!), sing in choirs, chorus part in local amateur dramatics productions, play the piano (just at home for myself), walk (when I lived in London and it was well-lit and safe to walk in the evenings).

Have you got any good recommendations on The Great Courses, please? A podcast I listen to is always advertising them! Do you still pay if you have an Audible subscription?

@NashEnquirer Re: The Great Courses on Audible. Some are included if you have a subscription and some are paid for.

I absolutely love the ones about classical music by Robert Greenberg such as 'How to Listen to and Understand Great Music'. I started as a complete beginner to classical music. Really easy to follow. Greenberg is a great lecturer. Some of his are included I think, but all are worth a credit.

There is also an amusing course about the Sherlock Holmes stories which was included a while back. Also enjoyed History's Greatest Voyages of Exploration' but 'The Real History of Pirates' was hard to follow. It does tend to depend on the lecturer.

I'm midway through the the Biology course which is fascinating but hard in an audio format.

Added in edit: The Berlin Wall was interesting and is currently included. I also liked Elements of Jazz. Most of the music ones have musical examples, but not the course on 20th century music.

Oh and it's worth checking out events and stuff locally as some are low cost - we have a lot of guided walks, bat walks, local exploration etc
I also went to the Harry Potter forbidden forest experience as I found a cheap slot

I like the winter cosy months. I am not a gym type! I snuggle down. Candles, heated blanket, cups of hot choc, bliss. I crochet and cross stitch, read a lot, and watch boxsets.

This is one I'm hoping to go to

https://www.hoghtontower.co.uk/special-events/ghost-tours/
Doesn't need you to go with anyone and food is included so it's a full evening. If you've got any local places of interest like this, worth looking at what they do

My local pub also does film screenings and theatre and they're between £3-10

I am recovering from surgery and have struggle to concentrate on reading. One of my friends recommended audio books and she was right. They’re a game changer! You can potter whilst reading, love it.

So helpful @AudiobookListener, thank you!

Exercise-still needs to be done whatever the weather. Do whatever you enjoy-swimming, walking, Pilates. I’d hate to be sat in front of the TV every night, so I do some form of exercise most nights. I’m also learning a language & planning lots of holidays.

On the topic of audio books, if you're a member of your local library you can download the Libby & Borrowbox apps & borrow them for free.

I’m married with friends but I still get lonely in the evenings as baby is in bed at 6:30pm and my wife works shifts.

I’ve found jigsaws and beginners crossstitch have kept me busy.

That is nice to do occasionally, but surely not every night.

When not working, and not exercising, and not doing housework or essentials shopping ... I have so much life admin. I do some doss on MN-Twitter-Facebook. Volunteering related admin. Organising my life.

Last night was a rare night I watched some tv.

This: OP what do you do in the evenings in summer, and why do you stop in winter?

Thanks so much for this - just downloaded both and logged in! Weirdly there only 1 audiobook showing on Libby (which I've borrowed!) and loads of stuff says "on loan" - I'd just assumed that as these were digital files there'd be more copies 😂

@Silkiebunny I’m intrigued! What does ‘cat’ involve?!

I'm not single but DH and I had a fair amount of separate social life pre kids and there's so much I would be doing now if I didn't have them, if funds allowed. Which tbf they would if I didn't have them, haha.

At home other than telly I'd do my usuals of reading, colouring in, exercise.

Outside I'd go to the gym, do a volunteer job a few hrs a week, go to conversational French groups, take swimming lessons, take driving lessons.

I'd also go out with my friends and family a lot but you said no to friends hence the suggestions of what I'd do solo.

I spend a lot if time outside as I have 3 ponies and love gardening, and I hate the short days. I struggle to motivate myself to ho anywhere in an evening so I knit, read and I've just done a simple embroidery. I really enjoyed it so I'm sending for another.

Flyinggeese Cat is a 1.1 metre Maine Coon. A typical day starts with being poked at 7am or so by a big fluffy paw which means get my breakfast of kitten tuna and cat biscuits.

Then today we had 2 tilers in to work on the kitchen which involved cat trilling and being hyper and leaping on everything as he was so excited people had come to see him and where doing work. So its then keeping cat out of the tiling.

Then play games with a fishing stick. Then be poked again with the big paw to play again.

Then cat takes a sleep so he can be up all night wanting games. That sort of thing. This is pics of the poke and the gaming.

Same except my kids are 10 and 16.
I’m exhausted when I get home. Since 5.30 pm my two wet dogs have been on the living room rug - drying off. My 10 year old in his PJ watching Netflix under a duvet. I’m snuggled next to him with a cup of tea on my phone. Daughter is due home in 15 minutes and it’s her turn to cook - so she can do pasta and bolognaise sauce.

Most evenings in the winter we do:
TV and work through a series eg boba fett
We all read and snuggles
Listen to cabin pressure on repeat or yes minister
Record bake off and catch use
same with strictly
and death in paradise in January
on horrid Saturdays we go to the cinema or bowling
we all knit
we make our own clothes
youngest draws his own cartoon characters like a comic book style
eldest runs a blog
and best of all…..

board games on repeat

every single day on the weekend

if I didn’t have children I would play them on night or set up a local club and play in the pub !!!

@Silkiebunny he’s absolutely gorgeous. That face to accompany the poke! Better get up and get on the case with tuna.

Now fully understand ‘cat’ as a way to spend time! Thanks for posting pics.

Thanks Flyinggeesei234 He's currently sleeping with Henry hoover but will be very happy tomorrow as DH gets up at 4am. He always thinks that means 2 breakfasts.