As you know I'm very into classic cars as well as music, probably more so, spending about 2 hours everyday doing something to do with cars! Be that looking to buy one, researching about them, going to meets and fixing my own.

What else are you into other than music? Not sure if music is really a hobby for me, it's more a hobby that has turned into a job but I still love it!

I also love writing fiction and drawing - don't get much time for art but usually get time to write something most days. Doubt I'll ever be published but it's only a bit of fun!

Gardening. Before I was a piano teacher, I was a Biology teacher, so the roles are now reversed. What was my hobby has become my job, and what was my job has (sort of) become my hobby.

But I love reading too, and sewing when I get time (which at the moment is never, but it'll all come round again eventually).

Gardening, photography, reading are my main ones at the moment. We turned our fishpond into a vegetable patch and have quite a few things growing at the moment. Not that I'm a very good gardener; I tend to look after things for a while and then just as they are growing nicely I neglect them and end up with a couple of measly tomatoes and some herbs.

I've had a camera since I was about 6 and recently bought myself a decent digital camera after several years of having bridge cameras. Trouble is I'm not finding it easy to learn how to use the new one - looks like I might have to go on a course or join a camera club, or something.

Reading's been neglected a bit the last couple of weeks. I belong to a book club which has been great for me as I was really stuck in a rut before. Now I've been introduced to books I wouldn't have dreamed of reading otherwise.

My other hobby is "being a geek". I fiddle with computers (doesn't help that I'm a programmer). I run Linux. I read geeky books- maths, programming, popular/not so popular science, finance. I used to read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, but I don't really any more because I don't have time (piano always comes first). I also attempt to draw and usually fail miserably.

knittng and cross stitch..... Find them very relaxing and destressing - and they keep me awake so I make it to the end of a film!

I like reading when I get the chance and mooching around secondhand book shops. I also used to love horse riding and it's something I'd love to get back into when the time is right. Otherwise I enjoy dog training or rather my dog enjoys training me to throw balls for her all day long and have a keen interest in martial arts.

I enjoy gardening and even though we only have a small town garden I have 2 allotments which keep me busy.I find digging, weeding, sowing and harvesting relaxing and rewarding.

I also enjoy walking/ DIY, decorating and even mundane jobs like getting the weekly food shop. I struggle with relaxing, not worrying and generally keeping a level head. Each day is a work in progress for me.

Drawing (which reminds me, I owe recorder magazine some cartoons), knitting, dressmaking, gardening, baking bread, DIY of all sorts, reading, skating.

The worst is not having time to do these properly so they tend to come and go in waves: the current upturn for me is reading, as I got a Kindle for my birthday: I adore books but have run out of storage options and tend to read two or three books in parallel, losing them in the house in strange places. When I got the Kindle I went to the Gutenberg Project page and downloaded about twenty books in one go, so can now keep three books moving at the same time, to match my mood, and in theory should trip over fewer books lying around all over the house.

Drawing is usually pencil, just black and white, and sometimes the more formal shaded this-is-an-item-I've-seen version, sometimes more cartoony. I love having that tranquil time for doing it. Knitting is different, I'm more likely to have other things going on when doing that, though knitting lace is more tricky unless it has 100% focus. Dressmaking happens when a garment is needed for a special occasion: I find clothes shopping dreadfully daunting at the best of times, and making the nicer items is a way around the humiliation of trying clothes on in shops. DIY is a necessity, causes huge upheaval, but I do like being able to lay floors, wire up lights, or do papering and painting. Gardening has taken something of a back seat this year because of other commitments - thankfully the garden is weeny and rather manages to self-maintain...

my sentiments exactly

I don't really do anything other than work-related stuff and slobbing out in front of the telly .

But if I had oodles of time it would be reading, drawing, calligraphy...I'd like to do a history of art course...and I used to sew a bit at one time...

However, I've been thinking more and more of late that I need some more ME TIME as I get older...the main stumbling block being money, of course . But I'm starting to formulate a few Escape Plans in my thinking voice...so you never know, my second paragraph might start to work out a bit...

Music was my hobby, then it became a job, then I think it mostly ceased being a hobby

Apart from that, I'm a genealogical addict and I enjoy architectural photography.

Gardening, knitting, reading.

Choir - although it's music, it's nothing to do with my job. Exploring bits of France.
When we lived in the far east I did ink painting, ikebana and calligraphy.

Don't watch television, and hardly ever watch a film.

Just had a look at that. 3 failed attempts to download.

exploring the outdoors when I can.. Reading, learning languages (I speak a little Bulgarian and even less Dutch but still..) and a little bit of photography here and there

My 'main hobby' is ice skating (but music and ice skating always change around).

I also like to do cross-stitches (3 unfinished ones at the moment...), French knitting (I make bears and dogs), learning (about anyone and anything), looking after my pets (14 snails, 2 lizards) and reading (several books in several languages at a time). I also do 'Adult Ballet' once a week but I'm not enjoying it as much now so it'll probably go soon.

One day I hope to add 'building a model carousel' to this list...

(This list does change frequently!)

I make clothes.

I like a particular Richard Branson quote just now: "I don't think of work as work and play as play. It's all living."

It's kind of my view on life when faced with challenges in all aspects of all the things I do.

So really my 'other than music' activities consist of a constant tumbling of:

Painting - the main thing I do with waking hours
Photography
My dogs
Reading - everything I can get my hands on
Daydreaming
Visiting Art galleries
Some sewing (felty things)
Felting
Travelling when I can
More daydreaming
Seeing my friends
Seeing my family
Walking with above dogs

In among this there are household chores and shopping etc but on the whole I find something interesting and valued everything I do as experiencing life - even trudging round Tesco trying to find the frozen peas.


(Sorry - think I was over-thinking this thread )

Mmmm...well, when the Bag hags up her teaching flute and recorders I'm sure I'll play MUCh more than I do now!

Quite fancy running a small cattery or a little guest house for musically minded people....somewhere warm....with a pool and a few olive trees....

Sigh.

Not a chance!

Baggle x

I write a beauty and lifestyle blog which has recently really taken off and I now have a number of PR contacts and review things for a national weekly magazine.

I enjoy swimming and aqua zumba but can't do them too regularly thanks to my health. I go to the pool quite a lot with mwl1 though, he swims while I enjoy being in the water.

And probably my strangest one... I am fascinated by midwifery. I have no idea from where the interest stems, but I've read textbooks on it and have watched every available documentary multiple times. I read things online, watch youtube channels, even read the publically-accessible journals. Maybe in a few years' time I'll be in a position to be able to retrain.

I'm going to leave now, I suspect I've come across as rather weird!

I don't have wifi in my house, we ethernetted our place using clever plug things which turn the home electrics into computer cabling. What I did was go onto the Gutenberg project on my netbook, connect the Kindle via its USB charging cable, and then save the Gutenberg files to the netbook, then drag the files across to the Kindle documents list. Currently co-reading some PG Wodehouse, some of Pepys' Diaries, and have just finished Schumann's little list of tips for young musicians . Still in the pipeline are more Wodehouse, some Wilde, some very odd little texts which I found in the general realm of social history, and I'm trying very hard not to go back for more just yet .

I'd forgotten, til I saw it mentioned, that I used to do calligraphy too, and now and again I come across all the materials I'd accumulated for that. One of the things about cartooning is that now I use electronic media to send them out, I am also having to learn to use computer techniques to adjust drawings for sending, as the scanner never makes things look clear enough. *goes to have another look at the GIMP*

Everyone has such diverse hobbies Some things that people consider hobbies I must admit I find a bit of a chore *cough* gardening *cough*.

Daydreaming is a big one for me and I think probably how the writing started. Everyone thinks I'm really weird for my imagination - I do still have the imagination of a child at 23. To be honest it's rather embarrassing!

A really sad hobby of mine is creating characters and researching all their interests etc. some are easy, some are not so! I can spend hours and hours on wikipedia and then following links to other websites.

Recently, I've got into researching composers and their works - mainly pieces that I am learning to play on my piano and got back into higher grade theory. Looking at the popular music theory course too that he LCM offers - should really stay out of Theory and Composition forum!!

I don't watch TV and not sure if thats a bit odd or not but I never said I was exactly 'normal'!

I'm probably not "normal" but I gave up caring long ago so long as I don't do anything to get arrested or fired.

The beauty / lifestyle blog sounds rather awesome Could you send me a link?

I used to go swimming five times a week but now can't be bothered, whoops!

Oh, forgot one more thing. I do a lot of yoga. It's been exactly what I needed to fix my RSI. Though I'm not a big fan of the new age stuff that goes along with it. I just like the exercise.

hahaha, agree entirely! I was talking to my mum about old cars and she said "bet you meet some strange people when you're buying / selling to someone" and I'm like "yeah, there seems to be about four types: the nostalgia brigade, the eccentrics, the show offs and the really old people." My mum then proceeds to tell me that I'm the 'eccentric' and that no it is certainly not normal to have dreams about escaping an evil wizard in an MGB GT V8 but it's all good fun

Well I have been a bit of a petrol head in my time, though not in the Pixie*Porsche classic cars sense. I was involved on and off in rallying for 20-odd years.

I have tended to flit between interests and usually one is the primary interest which absorbs most of my time. It has been rallying, it has been fell walking, it has been rock climbing. Right now, it is certainly playing the oboe. I still enjoy being out on the hills and as my sig. suggests I enjoy dancing and beer.

That's what I did.....after trying to save direct to Kindle didn't work.
Will try again later.

Done it.

I know plenty of people (mainly illustrators) who retain their wild imaginations into adulthood. I think it's a mark of creativity rather than anything to be embarrassed about.

I do talk to 'people' who aren't real a lot, although to be honest that's not really a hobby, more a social compensation mechanism that has lingered.

Actual hobbies - I like cooking / baking, eating (beyond what is necessary to exist), running and dancing, used to coach gymnastics but let that go, walking / rambling, and gardening by the force of positive thinking (go on flowers, you can do it! Not very effective).

camping, walking, reading, cross stitch, visiting gardens/castles/steam railways, driving and probably others that I'll think of when I've posted this

I brew beer.

I forgot that I enjoy cooking and manage all the catering in the house!

OK....

Obviously music is a big hobby for me... but I do other things too...

• For many years astronomy was a serious hobby. I was heavily involved at local, regional, and national level. When I stepped down from my term as president of one of the national bodies several years ago, I ceased all involvement
• Sort of following on from that is photography. I have a DSLR but manage to resist the temptation to go mad on lenses etc. I have toyed with the idea of trying to be more serious about it. Could do with going on some courses
• I have a substantial hi-fi system and over 2,500 CDs to go with it
• Reading - I have a lot of books covering many subjects. My teachers would be surprised at how many history books are in there
• I try to go to a conversational French class at work
• I enjoy cooking and entertaining
• I don't mind gadening (just as well as being on a bend in a cul-de-sac I have three of them Struggle to find the time to do it properly though
• I used to do a lot of running (15 - 20 miles a week) but a series of injuries stopped that and I struggle with fitness now as most other things I struggle to get motiviated for
• Hill walking - I've clocked about 200 peaks in England, Wales, and Scotland. Sadly as years progress it proves harder to escape from the office to go out on to the hills
• I usually manage a week's skiing in mid January (didn't this year for the first tome since 1987 due to the cost of buying a cello)
• I have done a small amount of rock climbing (I did some course spurely to assist with some of the more awkward walks like Sgur nan Gilean on Skye
• I do some sporadic volunteering work for the National Trust (I organised a work party from the office last week to clear hay from an orchard)
• I would quite like to go sailing (yacht). I have done my Competent Crewe certificate and I have taken and passed the Day Skipper (tidal) navigation exams. I've not done the practical yet. Sadly don't own a yacht and unlikely to!
• I woud like to paint in watercolours, but despite going on a couple of course I struggle with the medium. Need to go to a weekly class, but most are daytime and the only evening ones are the sam enight as choir. I have had more success with oils - I'm thinking of going on a week's course in the autumn

So, there you go. Keeps me off the streets
-

Well, Tenor Viol - I think you should stop slacking around.

Dancing - I know that's pretty close to music especially as it is percussive. Trying to learn Spanish, although now I've got to the subjunctive it is becoming a chore rather than a hobby.

Aside from all my music-making, travelling, supporting Charlton Athletic, Scrabble (I know all the valid two letter words ), studying the history of London Transport, and in relation to that, I have a collection of these...

There is never any shortage of boat owners looking for competent crew to go sailing with them for a day or longer.

Many people buy yachts in the hope / expectation that their families will want to go sailing with them, but the reality is rather different - so there is always a need for keen and competent crew.

SB

• I study, I appear to be an OU addict but what will happen after 2017 when the transitional funding ends who knows (I have a suspicion of distance learning at post graduate level may come in to it somewhere ) I've just finished my 14th course since 2000! It's is purely for fun.
• I read. Apparently I read a lot, but to me it's just what I do and have always done. Yesterday I finished my 53rd book in 2012 (yes, I catalogue my reading too!) I'll read pretty much anything that's put in front of me, unsurprisingly a lot of ties in to the subjects I am studying / have studied in some way (because I'm studying and reading for fun, so that there's an overlap makes perfect sense as obviously those are the subjects I'm interested in).
• Photography. My husband is a Really Proper Serious hobby photographer, and our holidays are usually based around going somewhere that we can wander about taking lots of photos. I'm not quite so serious as he is about it all - in that I'll come back from a week away with 400 pics rather than his 1000+! Somehow I occasionally find the time to work through the images and post them online
• Garden...I try to grow stuff but don't do very well at it. This year is dreadful in that two of our nice plant-growing areas are, ahem, wildlife gardens. Only not nice wildlife gardens, just lots of weeds really!

I'm glad that other people have the same character 'quirks' as me!

• Amateur Astronomy, now that I help the running of our University Society,
• Playing Computer games. This takes up most of my spare time of many hours a day. This directly leads onto my next hobby...
• Researching WW2 (Armoury, Objectives) I'm currently concerned with the western front and of all sides in the war. It's fascinating what was achieved. This is what started me being patriotic
• Internet shopping, although I haven't got into the habbit of buying much - just looking and wishing I had the money to buy these things (not to mention money to return things that don't quite fit the bill)
• Reading. It took me until I was 16 years old doing AS level English to realise the joys of reading. However, I am not like many people here in that I am a slow reader. This reminds me, AS English was about WW1 . I'm currently reading the McNab series - slightly war based.....
• "I can see what's happening...."
• Films (Disney cartoons: Aladdin, Brother bear, Beauty and the beast, etc) Lots of lovely touching music.

I love reading - although I read far too fast! I buy in bulk out of charity shops, then return them once im finished! I do fancy a kindle though...

I used to have my own horse, and worked at riding stables for 7 years, but now struggle to find the time and money to continue riding... So to make up for it I go out cycling a lot

I enjoy swimming, and would do far more of it if it was cheaper!

I really like cooking (surprising given that I was awful at Home Economics at school... My parents favourite story is when I blew up the oven at school baking bread...) and according to my parents and partner i'm not too bad at it

Same here! Matthew started reading Michael Mcintyre's auto-biography a few months ago - he put it down one morning and by the afternoon I'd read the whole thing! He's still not finished it.

Agreed! I managed to read a whole book in a two hour traffic Jam on the M6!!

ooooooooooooo, how could I forget to put down horse riding, I luuuurve horse riding I may not be the most confident on the ground with them but get me on one with a jump infront and I will happily give anything a go!

Swimming, like so many other things in my life, I love but I'm just not very good at my uni has a swim card though which gets two free hours (at set times) a week of swimming and discounted any other time so I like to go when I can

Me too! Including the not enjoying it so much so I have just given it up. They changed the time and I couldn't cope with finishing at 11pm.

I love reading and I have a Kindle.

Cooking - but only if I can have the kitchen all to myself, no kids and Radio 4.

Gardening - if you can call it that - very satisfied to see that my first attempt to grow tomatoes is bearing fruit. I only have a tiny balcony and window box though.

Walking in the countryside - but haven't done this for ages as it is difficult with a pushchair and the twins aren't up to walking that far yet.

So many people list gardening-----I am really envious, as I have a love of plants (so botany is on my list), and a blank canvas of a garden, but do not enjoy gardening !

Main other occupation is geology----but I do not live in the right place for studying my favourite types of rock(igneous & metamorphic)---I,m surrounded by sequences of sediments!

Hill walking & skiing----not good terrain for this either---too agricultural and too flat.
Cycling----popular up here, but rather windy.

Having said all of this, I would not chose to live anywhere else !---partly because the music is so good!

My mother (how right they often are!) was worrried last year that the amount of time I spend on my violin / fiddle playing and music listening would interfere with my study time---geology. I have to be very careful to make the time for the latter.

Oh--the cats---how could one forget them, and the crime novels, etc etc

All holidays and travel are devoted to the above activities---I can wander along beaches and cliffs any day of the week, sometimes even in the sun, but also in winter weather----more interesting.

You will have gathered I am one of the very busy folks of bus-pass age. I feel I am trying to make up for almost wasting the first three years of my retirement---so the housework suffers, I'm afraid.

I would love a cat - just the one, a tabby from preference. But I have a very allergic daughter, and even when she's not going to be living here anymore, I don't think it would be fair to have a cat because it would limit the time she could come here.

And having been one of those who quote gardening as a hobby, mine is rather strange - I grow lettuce in old washing up bowls, and tomatoes in plant pots, and this year I'm experimenting with carrots in window-box style containers because I have a temperamental back. So I can do all this gardening in our little greenhouse at table top level, and then I persuade someone with a good back and some muscle to move the containers for me.

The stuff I do other than music:

1. Play squash

2. Go cycling

3. Learn about techie stuff

I am most impressed that your bus goes to Selsdon, Baz! I'll hop on it when it gets here...

I am impressed with the concern you show for your daughter.

For what it's worth, my mum obtained a pair of cats the minute they got back from dropping me at halls (clearly she had silently suffered cat withdrawal for 18 years) and after a few christmases of getting extra nebules from the doc, antihistamines and occasionally throwing them in the cattery for a few days, lots of madly hoovering around and shutting certain doors, we have reached something of a workable compromise. I still get bullied for not stroking them though .

That's a bit sad, really. Clearly your mum's withdrawal symptoms were less bearable than mine are. But daughter is really bad with cousins dogs, so it wouldn't be fair.

Quite - know what you mean as one choir member said to me (he's a GP) "If you want something doing, ask a busy person".

I'm also a firm believer that we all need to at least try some new things on a regular basis.

I quite like travel, but I've done rather less of it since I moved to current house and significantly increased the mortgage... I did manage to go treking in the Himalayas and to do a camping tour around Alaska. If I had the time, I'd visit historical/classical archaeological sites, I enjoy architecture (especially churches and cathedrals)...

EDIT: put in the missing words so it makes sense!