City folk. What do you do for fun?l day to day?

[oOemeOo]

I live rurally. A typical week for me…

I work full time Monday-Fri in a school.

In the summer after work I walk the dog around the local hills, forests. Ride my mountain bike or go rock climbing. On the weekends I do similar but further afield/all day.

In the winter I walk the dogs in the local hills, forests or go the indoor climbing wall. I ride my mnt bike on weekends.

Once in a blue moon I’ll go shopping (such as today!… Trafford centre) or diy. But my house is tired and my wardrobe minimal.

Being in Manchester today and getting completely overwhelmed by the crowds! Made me wonder how city folk decompress from being surrounded by people, cars and litter all day!

Great thread

I like cafes, restaurants, and events

People watching - there's always some crazy shit happening on my street

Taking dd to do things using the tube, which she enjoys

The food

I dont embrace the city enough but that's on me

I struggled with the amount of people at first today. I was only in the Trafford centre as a driver for my teen and her friends. I’m rubbish at shopping (because I have no money or style.) So embraced the crowds by sitting in the window of Starbucks and people watched! Was quite entertaining

to decompress, I walk my dog in parks, woods, nature reserves, I go to yoga and Pilates. I meet up with friends. Go for a run or swim. Also just being at home.

And for fun I do things like go to concerts, exhibitions, meals out

I think city folk who enjoy city life are just a lot less bothered by the people, litter and cars than you are. But tbh living in a city means I don’t have to drive to shopping centres as I can get public transport to the city centre for shopping instead so not sure the cars are a city problem as people in cities often can walk more and drive less than those living rurally.

Mostly things with DS, who’s only 5, so sometimes we do free events locally, there was a sort of street festival event a couple of weeks ago with dance and circus performances etc, that was great. Tomorrow we’re going to a Halloween thing after parkrun, a child-friendly haunted house type scenario with actors. He likes a trip into London proper too, we can be in London Bridge in under twenty min so we like the Golden Hinde, Clink museum, the Tate modern. The old Hospital where you can see a real surgical theatre. Bit of mudkarking occasionally, also there’s a website that lets you know when Tower Bridge will open and what’s going under it, we’ve seen some really cool stuff from paddle steamers, small cruise ships, warships and old pirate-like boats go through, such a fun activity!

We also like to sit on the benches inside London Bridge station with a treat pastry from Greggs and watch people running for their trains 😂

To be honest we’ve been lucky that he’s only just started school and I had a couple of weekdays where i didn’t work and it was just me and him, so we’ve made full use of being able to avoid the worst of the queues and crowds for a few years.

Yeah, that makes sense. I drive everywhere! Unless I’m going to an inner city. Then I’ll get the train. I drove today for ease as the Trafford centre isn’t in the city centre.

Locally, my nearest supermarket and big town is 15 miles away.

I live in a national park, and there’s a big push on summer littering as it’s become such a problem. Particularly bbqs ave tents.

But, then when I went for a run along the canal in Manchester and generally driving around I came across a couple of fly tipping spots and so many poo bags and beer cans.

That’s so cool!

I feel like my kids (17&13) are so sheltered culturally. We hardly do museums, history or theatre. When we do, it’s a big deal and takes planning and travel and money!

We are getting better! I have embraced train journeys to London and Edinburgh recently for gigs with the kids. But they’re special occasions.

Day to day my kids have not been brought up with cultural appreciation. My go to is just being outside!

Last weekend I went to see the Henry Moore sculptures at Kew Gardens. Fantastic weather and they looked stunning. Next day I went to an exhibit on New Bond St then had lunch at a pub behind Liberty’s. Had a look at their Christmas shop.
This weekend not so active (rain) but my visiting sister walked into town to get her favourite dessert from a specific bakery - about three miles round trip. She can cut through a lovely Victorian garden (no planting currently but still nice) to get there. I met a friend for coffee at the restaurant at the top of our nearest department store and had a mosey around their Christmas shop!
When I had dogs I had a choice of three parks to walk them, one even has an outdoor café. In London you are never too far from a park! But I get energised by the hustle and bustle - I live in a terraced house and it’s very quiet inside, even though there’s a school on our street so lots of daytime walkers. But I want to move further in to London. The countryside is nice to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.

I grew up rurally so I get that! I do try to do a lot of ‘country-life’ based things with DS when I can too and he loves going up to Norfolk where my parents still live. He enjoys the city a lot and I do marvel at how confident he is navigating the crowds and the transport and the noise, but he definitely yearns for beaches and the woods because that’s what he doesn’t get so often! I always try to give him at least one proper bucket and spade beach day every summer. He’s never been anywhere like the Peaks or the Lakes though, he’d love that. It’s lovely you get to experience nature so often!

Living in a City gives SO much choice that isn't available living rurally.

I don't have a dog, but there are lots of dogs in our road and so many places to walk them - parks, woods, hills, country parks, riversides, canal tow paths, as well as just round the roads. My friend, who lives very rurally with her dog, has to put her dog into her car to go somewhere safe to walk him as they have no paths on the roads near them.

I like sport - I find it very relaxing watching, and I have the choice of so many places I can watch spot (or - if I were so inclined, which I'm not - there are hundreds of places I could take part in so many different sports or types of exercise).

I am not particularly fond of museums or art galleries, but there are several in my City if that is how you relax.

I like the theatre - there are several in our City you can go to.

Some people find shopping relaxing

Many of us decompress by meeting a friend. In a City you have hundreds of options - coffee, lunch, a pub, a restaurant from a plethora of different counties and cuisine, cafes, a bar, street dining. Generally at a much more competitive price than rurally due to the competition

Clubs / Groups / Hobbies - I enjoy singing. I can think of about 30 different choirs within easy reach of me, so am able to go and get the endorphins flowing, whatever type of music I prefer. There are just 100s upon 100s of things you can go to with friends or on your own to relax, or have fun with other people.

Of course, some people decompress with a bath and / or a good book - which you can do wherever your home is.

It just seems like such an odd question to me.