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?

Outdoor swimming, especially in very cold water.

Clay target shooting. Find a ladies shooting event for starting off or get a private lesson. There's something about a woman with the gumption to pick up a gun that makes her good company.

@AsYouMightBe I do very similar to you- lots of literary 'research' (only for me) & visit places where my favourite writers lived & are buried.
I am in a reading group. I read a lot & attend online classes / presentations/ lectures. I go to a lot of exhibitions. I love walking tours of cities.
I'm rarely bored.

Download the app on your phone. It shows you where they are hidden using gps. It's a bit like the Poekmon hunts, but much better as you have physical things to find.

It's free to pay or for about 50p per week you can be a premium member and have more things to find.

I sail on a little Capability Brown landscaped lake in Cheshire. It’s pretty safe. I wouldn’t venture out to sea in my dinghy. I am plucking up the courage to try a big lake, maybe once I’ve got my RYA level 3.

A language
An instrument
Choir
Knitting / Crocheting

I have an allotment. And I love to read ☺️

As the name suggests, I'm a big fan of sewing! I used to do mainly cross stitch and embroidery, but now I make almost all my own clothes. It can be as cheap or expensive as you choose it to be (even machines can be found relatively cheaply in charity shops if you look). Absolutely loads of online resources. You can use bedding to practice (my first ever item of clothing was made from a picnic blanket!).

It brings me immense joy and has done wonders for my mental health. Huge advocate for creating 😍

I joined an African drumming group about 6 months ago and go to pottery classes with dd and pop choir with ds.

I also swim outdoors - lots of opportunities in London.

I'm 53, the dc are young teens.

At similar age in London I did young ramblers...not quite as geeky as it sounds as well as pottery at a local arts centre

Choir.
Ramblers.
Sky diving.
A racquet sport.
Creative writing.

You need a permit for that.

Bellringing

Karate

Op I'm in a similar boat, life as a 30 year old is boring lol. I find furniture upcycling is the only thing that's gripped me properly.

Love this

I started playing non-contact rugby in my mid-50s. Most of my teamies are young enough to be my kids. Some of them were at school with my kids!

Best thing I've ever done.

Also did the archetypal middle aged woman thing and started outdoor swimming.

Do you needed a license for this? Thought I saw that on TV once (maybe a Countryfile type show?)

I’m envious of those who get to try out lots of evening classes. I used to do this, but I’m nowhere near London and our local college offers a tiny fraction of the courses it used to.

I took Russian classes 20 years ago, became friends with the tutor and we still socialise from time to time.

I also took aerial hoop classes for a while. They were fun and great for improving my strength and co-ordination. Alas, the local dance studio which ran these has closed.

One of my friends plays in a largish Samba drumming band. They get paid gigs - I saw them when they played at our local park last summer. I’d quite like to give it a go, but I get the impression that my friend would like to keep it as “her thing”.

Taking pictures for geograph. Can be taken as local or as far away as you like. https://www.geograph.org.uk/

Probably a bit more niche, but contributing to https://www.findagrave.com/
If you live near a cemetery you can take photos of headstones or you can also contribute by doing historical research relating to those memorialized.

Cold water kills.
Could be an exciting hobby.

Try orienteering. You don't need any experience and events are all over London. https://slow.org.uk/

eating cheese

Great idea, particularly as you are in London.

Pickleball.

I am loving these suggestions and plan to take some on myself.

Particularly being a tourist in your own town.

And eating cheese. Lots and lots of cheese.

(As per my post upthread I'm taking the Dcs out today to a new cafe. It's been in our village for about 3 years and i have never been).

Thanks OP for the thread. I have found it really interesting!

I’m in a local ladies walking group. 3 walks a week in lovely local countryside, lovely country pub lunches, branched out to theatre trips and some longer hikes. Best thing is everyone is very local, so have suddenly acquired over 30 local friends. All so different, but we all gel. Someone just posted a note on the towns FB page saying ‘any ladies fancy starting up a walking group?’ And it went from there, so if one doesn’t exist, set one up, if that’s your thing