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Hobby Suggestions Please


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HOLA441
Guest X-QUORK

As the title says, am giving up the booze, hopefully forever, and I think I need to find a hobby to keep myself busy.

I'm a 40 year old chap with a wife and little boy (3 years old), and I live in the middle of the country miles from the sea. Physically, a bit unfit but not beyond hope and I quite enjoy the outdoors.

Hobby suggestions would be most appreciated.

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HOLA444

Best of luck with it. I stopped in 2002 and have never regretted the decision.

As you are in the country, I'd suggest walking and photography to get you out of the house doing something creative.

If you have a garage or workshop, then woodworking could be a good pastime and you might be able to sell what you make through a local farm shop or garden centre.

Just a few random ideas. I've also tried dry stone walling which is a social way to get some er, hard labour. There's a real feeling of having achieved something when the wall is finished, though.

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HOLA445

Get into Radio Controlled Cars :D

Seriously I've been heavily involved in these for years, not the kids stuff, nitro (petrol powered) 4WD kits that will do 40mph and jump over 30 metres. Your lad will love it as well! The majority of people in the hobby are your sort of age and not very fit B)

If you're in the country there must be loads of land you can tear up with a monster truck or rallycross buggy and if you get into it, the racing scene is awesome, there's tracks all around the country.

Check out my website maxbashing.com there's a popular forum on there as well if you have any questions, or feel free to drop me a mail if you want any advice. Kits like the HPI Savage or HoBao Hyper 7 would be agood starting place, prices start from £200 for a ready to run kit, oh and if you're not so keen on petrol/nitro, there's some good electric kits out there as well. check out www.apexmodels.com if you want to look at a good online shop

Cheers

Dan

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If you're in the country, try model rocketry. Estes is the main manufacturer, and you can build anything from a simply rocket to scale replicas of real rockets, complete with parachute recovery systems.

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A

I'm a 40 year old chap with a wife and little boy (3 years old), and I live in the middle of the country miles from the sea. Physically, a bit unfit but not beyond hope and I quite enjoy the outdoors.

Get a dog.

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Guest anorthosite
Do you?

I used to. In the days before 9/11 I even fired them off in the park beside the Queen's official residence in Edinburgh.

Much fun was had when I carried on doing it when the Queen was actually there!

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Guest X-QUORK

Wow, excellent response! Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

I would really love to have a dog, but living in rented and the added responsibility kind of rule that one out for the time being. Learning to play an instrument...yes, I think I'll give that a second bash. I tried to have a go at the guitar a few years ago and gave up after a while...might have to dust off the axe and tune it up. I love music so this could be my main contender.

Already go walking a few times a week and often take the camera, but agree that proper photography might be something I could get into. Will keep that one on the backburner.

Remote control buggies - thank you for your detailed response, but it doesn't really fit in with my treehugger beliefs, although I've often toyed with the idea of remote control gliders.

Dry stone walling, I like that one...is that through local preservation societies?

Archery, like that one too, I wasn't too shabby last time I tried it. If I take up golf my wife will leave me, she's already made that clear.

Woodwork, very keen on that one but I'm a complete novice and we don't have the space...good excuse to buy a shed later in life.

Growing veggies, quite keen on that idea, but haven't I missed the boat this year?

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HOLA4413
Guest anorthosite
Growing veggies, quite keen on that idea, but haven't I missed the boat this year?

Pretty much, but you can take the time to prepare the ground over the summer - if its all ready by the end of autumn then the frost will break down any lumps or clods and make life easier in the spring.

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Guest X-QUORK
Get a ladygarden to play with.

The holistic approach, I'll speak to the missus about that one. Topiary of sorts.

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More information on dry stone walling:

In the first instance, contact your local branch of the Dry Stone Walling Association

They will run weekend introductory courses close to you. I think the usual cost is about £50. Once you have been on one of those, you know whether you like it or not and also have a basic set of skills which enable you to join as a member and attend organised walling days throughout the year. There is no charge for attending those walling days, other than your annual membership fee.

I hadn't got around to joining, but now I will pull my finger out and send the form off.

Edit: I just found some photos from the introductory course to give you an idea of what can be achieved by a bunch of novices in one weekend.

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Get secondhand bikes and a bicycle rack for the car, there are loads of really nice cycle tracks all over the country. If your feeling very flush you could add camoing gear to that and really explore the place.

Planning trips, cycle routes can keep you happy for ages in the winter months. Most camp site have electric hook ups these days so it's easy to take a fan heater and extend your trips to early spring and late autumn. :D

Kids love riding and camping, it will improve your fitness and do wonders for your state of mind.

Good luck with coming off the sauce, after a while you will wonder what you ever saw in it. Very over rated IMHO.

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HOLA4421
If you're in the country, try model rocketry. Estes is the main manufacturer, and you can build anything from a simply rocket to scale replicas of real rockets, complete with parachute recovery systems.

I used to love doing this as a kid and graduated from the Estes stuff to some quite serious homemade jobs. Gave up when they started going too far to find them again.

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Guest Skinty

I find that my desire to drink alcohol decreases the more exercise I get. I think it's the endorphins giving me a high compared to alcohol acting as a downer. (Endorphins also come from excitement, pain, death, and orgasm according to wikipedia, but exercise is probably healthier).

You could try paragliding. It changes your life and gives you the most beautiful sensory experiences ever. I am never as mellow as after a day's flying. Few people take it up before their 30's or 40's anyway. The assistant instructor when I was learning was 74 and started learning when he was in his 60's. You get exercise walking up hills, you sit around for hours relaxing waiting for the right weather whilst soaking in the scenery. It can be as scary or as relaxing as you want it.

Or you could take up hill walking and / or wild camping. There is nothing nicer than camping on top of a mountain when the sun goes down, the milky way comes out and you know that no one is around. Except when you hear snuffling noises outside your tent.

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Well I'm 45 and took redundancy a while back. I too gave up drinking.

Here's what I do now to fill my days:

Web Design/Hosting - A paying hobby that brings in about 4k per year. Obviously you need to be computer literate and a capable designer.

Play Guitar - Been 'learning' for years. I can strum a few songs and it's very relaxing

Gym - I go five times per week. Run, a few weights, hot tub and sauna. 2 hours of fun. I've lost a stone (13 down to 12) and met some intersting yummy mummies etc.

eBay - I buy and sell a bit on there. Not really to make money, more to exchange things I've got for things I want

Cookery - If you can read, you can cook. Making a decent meal from local ingredients and my own herb garden is fun.

Photography - Part of the website thing but I'm not a bad photographer. A decent DSLR and lens on eBay will cost under £300 and there's a lot of fun to be had there.

How about selling Usborne Childrens Books? My wife does that part time and she really enjoys it.

Listening to the radio - a bit of an aside, but whilst working I listen to my Internet radio. Ten thousand stations to choose from, situated all over the world. It's fascinating on occasions.

My next thing, now that I love the gym is to go on a NVQ Gym instructors course. I start in September. 18 weeks, £400 and at the end you'll have a basic qualification to enable you to join REPS. Then you can expand on that, teaching various more specialised disciplines.

Moving on from the above, there are hundreds of courses run by councils, from learning languages to woodworking.......all sorts. Get in touch with your local council to find out what they offer.

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