Dying of boredom - please share interesting pursuits/ hobbies you have come across.

[Tryeng]

Not married/ no kids. Very early days into new relationship. 30 yo. In London (for now).

I socialise often but I genuinely think I only do this for mental stimulation. Would love to find something else to preoccupy my time.

When I’m at my parents home I enjoy cooking and gardening with them but for some reason they don’t “stick in London”. Would love a dog but don’t have time for one. Do volunteer fortnightly at rescue centre but find it sad tbh.

Thinking about getting back into horse riding. Sailed briefly as a kid but was useless tbh.

i have a Friend whose hobby is to visit waterfalls. Something like that would be neat.

Contemplating Astro-photography. Golf? Maybe furniture restoration.

Money shouldn’t be an issue but I do recognise specialist equipment can be very £££££.

Any ideas?

Postcrossing, not much effort but posting postcards abroad is quite expensive compared to other countries posting to the UK. It's joyful to received a postcard from overseas and for me exciting when someone has received the card you sent and sends you a message. I haven't been doing it long but I'm already email pals with a lady in Belarus. I have a separate email address for Postcrossing and we email snipits and photos of the area around us.

How about dolls house and miniatures? There is a dolls house fair in Kensington on 17 and 18 May. It can be an expensive hobby but can go on for years and years.I

I haven't got any suggestions for outdoor hobbies as I only actively do vegetable gardening (not at the moment because the weather has been awful). I then make chutney and preserves out of the produce but I don't sell them for £15 a jar to celebrities! 😀

One of my friends made it her mission to visit every cathedral in the UK.

She's done that now and next mission is France.

Learn an instrument and then join an orchestra or group . Ditto with a choir . Or take up photography and set a challenge like visiting and photographing every church / pub / station in a certain area - you could even blog it or whatever people do now .

I started skateboarding a couple of months ago. I had a couple of lessons at an indoor skatepark and bought a skateboard for a tenner on fb market place. I’m really bad, but it is exciting and the local skaters have been very kind and supportive. Im 50.

Oh! I just recalled that when I was a teenage I decided to find the place that sold the perfect chocolate eclair in my city. My very patient father and I went every Saturday to a different place and I wrote up little reviews. (Later I started a food blog when DS1 was born 14 years ago so kind of the same thing).

I fancy recreating that idea with the Dcs. A new little cafe every weekend. (I am very food oriented).

I'd make the most of London. Lots of the museums to short courses.

Learn a language on Duolingo, just to get you started? If you have an old A level to brush up, that's a head start.

Love clothes but hate what's in the shops? Get into charity shopping and car boot sales and learn to do all your own repairs and alterations.

Opera! So many great recordings of all eras available for free on YT. Can combine this with learning a language.

I like @Floralnomad 's idea of doing something then blogging it. The fashionable crowd may have moved on from blogs, but good long-form content always has a place.

I'd forget all the spendy stuff unless you can start really small. Look after someone else's horse before shelling out for riding equipment or whatever, that way you can find out whether the hobby still interests you without spending a fortune.

I’m relearning the guitar (learned a bit at school, but didn’t keep it up), I’m part of a creative writing circle, I volunteer for a missing person’s organisation. I’m quite tempted to pick up some new skills that will complement my current job (marcomms) so I’m going to be looking online for tutorials connected to that - Skillshare do a free month trial, you just need to remember to cancel if you don’t find anything to your liking.

A photography project that is also useful:
British Listed Buildings - History in Structure
You can find a list of listed buildings for any area and upload photos.
I find carrying a camera and looking purposeful is an excellent way of wandering about, clocking up your daily steps and generally enjoying being out and about and people/places watching.

Things that get you out of the flat - going to an evening class; from cooking to woodwork, whatever takes your fancy. Also an exercise class, great for the mind and body. I do reformer pilates a few times a week and I love it.

As for things you can do at home, there are some free online courses from a site called FutureLearn - I'm currently doing a six week Forensic Anthropology course. You could also try learning a new language.

Printmaking ? Not too expensive and there's a big print community.
Crochet?
Maybe you need a project rather than a hobby like writing a book or an open university course...

When I lived in London, I used to do a lot of walking — exploring corners of London I didn’t know, sometimes using ‘Secret London’ or ‘Literary London’ walking books. I think I visited all the City churches over a period of years. I did a lot of literary pilgrimages and located graves of writers, sometimes very obscure ones. I did lots of free short courses/lectures. I went to art galleries all the time. I was on various free cultural event lists, and used to go to free lunchtime concerts and free film showings, and gigs, and theatre and opera.

If you're in London - mudlarking!

Mudlarking on the Thames!

Yy to learning a language. Pick the language of a country whose culture you're interested in, then you can view the whole country, culture and language as a hobby. Get good enough and you can listen to podcasts in the language, read literature, watch films. Cook their cuisine and go to the country and speak the language. Look into finding people at home from the country to chat to - go to a class etc. I've taught languages for 30 years, but loved learning a new one asan adult.

I also knit, crochet and spin (on a spinning wheel).

Oh that's a good idea.

years ago I lived for 2 years in Bangkok followed by 3 years in Kyiv. I used to spend all Saturdays just walking. I'd take a book and walk for an hour then stop at a cafe and have a drink / snack and read then walk for an hour then stop again. It was awesome. And I learned so much.

I also joined the Hash house harriers. Op there will for certain be one where you live. https://www.londonhash.org/ It's tremendous fun and I met some great people- including DH!

Cooking and gardening Instagram/tiktok? Could you grow your own produce and use in the posts to combine the two?

Pottery

Book club

Running/ walking whilst listening to a podcast

Restaurant reviewing blog

Indoor rock climbing

Fitness class like Pilates/ yoga

I started programming as a hobby. You can learn a lot online for free. Now it's my full-time job! Not for everyone, or particularly sociable, but if you like logic puzzles and solving problems, I'd recommend it.

Metal detecting - well I fancy it - fresh air and treasure!

I've just started this after hearing about it on another thread and it's brilliant. It doesn't take up that much time though. If you did post enough cards to take up a lot of time it would be very expensive. Overseas stamps are now £2.50

I'm a huge fan of taking general interest classes. You don't even have to keep the hobby going, just taste test. I've met so many interesting people I would never have met.

Languages, jewelry making, writing, drawing, weightlifting, cooking. If you're in London, you have endless options.

Look at the Rebel Badge Club - sounds ideal for you in trying lots of different things but with clear targets for you to aim for.

Knitting, crochet, weaving, punchneedle embroidery, basically any wool related craft. There are likely to be lots of classes and social crafting groups in London.

Research your family history. Start on ancestry.com and go from there. I can spend literally hours and hours doing my family tree and it flies by in 5 minutes. The things I've found have been so interesting... illegitimate children, relatives who went to prison etc. it's fascinating! I've also found many new cousins who I now keep in touch with from all over the world.