Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

WelshmansDaughter

Could try your local library for group to join? Or something diy/garden related like a class?

savingholmes

Sounds good to re-prioritise social connection. Friends help get us through as does mental stimulation.

Merlin's_Beard

WelshmansDaughter said:

Could try your local library for group to join? Or something diy/garden related like a class?

Sadly I live in a small village so the local library tends to run daytime hours for older/retired people or parents - not really much for younger people who work full time, and there aren't any other book groups that I can find.

The other thing I'm hindered by is the working hours - I do four longer days plus regular weekends, and the days don't always (ie quite often) don't end on time so reliably getting to anything that starts before about 8-8.30pm on those nights can be a nightmare.

I'm trying to investigate board game groups* that works around those restrictions and is in one of the local towns and is in an area with reasonable parking. I used to live close to friends who were my gaming group, but they're several hours away now.


*if you want frugal hobbies, do not get into board games

WelshmansDaughter

A friend of mine does board games, think she used Meet Up

astrocytic_kitten

Making new social connections as an adult can be so difficult. What worked for me was volunteering (a real cliche!). Apart from the initial training it had flexible hours where I met lots of different people and gained a group of friends out of that. Sounds like the board game group could be very promising, hope it works out!

FlacosFloozie

I'm also a massive board game geek and would not like to add up how much I've spent over the years! The local group sounds great.

It is really difficult to plan things after work. There will be nights when emergencies happen but I've also found that having plans does mean you're a bit more likely to leave on time. I think it's a mindet shift- I've paid for this pottery class so I need to leave and I'll make that phone call in the morning.

Any other form of village social life? Pub quiz? Am drams? Walking group? WI? Local BVA/YVN group? I've found with villages if you can make one or two friends there's usually a quite a strong community who'll welcome you. The tricky bit is getting that in.

Does your estate have a facebook group yet? Ours has been quite good- started off with a lot of requests for tradesman recomendations but now has a fair bit of social chat/event advertising too.

Merlin's_Beard

FlacosFloozie said:

I'm also a massive board game geek and would not like to add up how much I've spent over the years! The local group sounds great.

It is really difficult to plan things after work. There will be nights when emergencies happen but I've also found that having plans does mean you're a bit more likely to leave on time. I think it's a mindet shift- I've paid for this pottery class so I need to leave and I'll make that phone call in the morning.

Any other form of village social life? Pub quiz? Am drams? Walking group? WI? Local BVA/YVN group? I've found with villages if you can make one or two friends there's usually a quite a strong community who'll welcome you. The tricky bit is getting that in.

Does your estate have a facebook group yet? Ours has been quite good- started off with a lot of requests for tradesman recomendations but now has a fair bit of social chat/event advertising too.

You are very right about having things planned meaning you get out on time and I need to do better with that.

I'm too old and grizzled for YVN, Flaco! :As far as vet connections, the local BVA/regional BSAVA are both quiet and I'm waiting on local referral centres to restart their evening CPD evenings, but I don't have much control over that.

On the estate FB and whatsapp but mainly complaints, tradesmen, and babygroups so far. Pub quizzes are my style but while I'm happy to go to most things solo I think a pub quiz is over the line where it gets a bit awkward? (downside of being unpartnered!) I am keeping my eye out for other things, though.

@astrocytic_kitten - I do sometimes volunteer at my local motor racing circuit, and I need to get back on track (pun intended) with that this year after the chaos of not knowing what the hell was going on with the move last year -  but they are loooong days so it's hard to be too regular with that.

badmemory

You could always try contacting the pub landlord & ask if any groups are short a member & looking for someone with knowledge of whatever.  It has been a long time since I used to go but there were often groups playing with only 3 every week when 4 was the norm.

Merlin's_Beard

For accountability, I think I need to report that I'm now 2 days behind in the Yoga With Adriene 30 day calendar. I might forgive myself tonight - first day back at work after the new year weekend, emergency meant I got home at 8.30pm - but yesterday I was too busy eating cadburys and watching the Lion King, so....

savingholmes

Cadburys and Lion King are the priority in that scenario