Things to do alone.

[Chet]

I need to get out of the house more, and all of my friends here in Manchester have either gone back home for the summer, are really busy or are suffering a mental crisis.

So, how do you occupy yourself when you're alone? Today I went to a tea shop in town, drank a lot of tea and read a bunch, which is something I've never done before and it was nice. But I need more ideas.

[C of heartbreak]

A lot of people say it's a bad idea, but I really like hiking alone. Just go out in the woods and dick around, look at the birds and bugs.

[milesofsparks]

I take photos, among other things.

[Thermofusion]

Walking/riding my bike. It might only apply to smaller towns, but lately I've gotten kind of obsessed with the 'middle of the night bike ride through deserted streets' thing. Like, hopping on your bike at 2 AM or whatever. Air is crisper, it's simultaneously exciting and calming and it's oddly conducive to thinking and contemplation.

[Chet]

Walking/riding my bike. It might only apply to smaller towns, but lately I've gotten kind of obsessed with the 'middle of the night bike ride through deserted streets' thing. Like, hopping on your bike at 2 AM or whatever. Air is crisper, it's simultaneously exciting and calming and it's oddly conducive to thinking and contemplation.

I like doing this. Especially while listening to music. There's a certain kind of record that just sounds right cruising under street lamps.
I don't have any lights for my bike right now though.

[elpollodiablo]

I'm going for a late night ride myself this evening!

[Anne the Man]

A lot of people say it's a bad idea, but I really like hiking alone. Just go out in the woods and dick around, look at the birds and bugs.

I take photos, among other things.

These two combined is a good idea. Also, do you play an instrument? Also, crafting things/drawing/painting/writing/whatever applies best. Some of these can be done at a tea-house.

Exploring random parts of town/countryside alone is fun, unless where you live is risky. Find a new bookshop, or a cool swing somewhere, or a random glade. Then you can tell people about it, or keep it to yourself as a secret place.

[Bernard]

Most of the things other people like doing in groups, I prefer doing alone, which is a bit weird because I am not an introvert.

Going to the movies,
Going to bars,
Going out to eat.

Like that. Maybe because there are people around, and that's enough. I don't especially like cooking alone, that can be too alone.

[Bernard]

You can be a tourist in your town. Museum? City tour?

[mixed cats]

I will do just about anything alone, but my favorite is Find Somewhere to Sit and Draw Things. Feel free to replace drawing with reading.

Go to museums or galleries, and examine the objects or artwork for more than thirty seconds
Visit the library and browse topics you've never explored before or pick up foreign language dictionaries and copy out your favorite words
Go into a store full of expensive things and TOUCH ALL OF THEM.
City wandering in general is nice. Ride a public transit line end to end. Woo new scenery.
When you're OK with spending money, it's totally fine to go to shows, movies, plays, and whatever by yourself.
Parks! Botanical gardens! Things to look at!

[Greg Nog]

Sketching!  Especially old gnarled trees and local statues.

[Anne the Man]

Life drawings of old gnarled Gregory Nogs

[davy]

Walking/riding my bike. It might only apply to smaller towns, but lately I've gotten kind of obsessed with the 'middle of the night bike ride through deserted streets' thing. Like, hopping on your bike at 2 AM or whatever. Air is crisper, it's simultaneously exciting and calming and it's oddly conducive to thinking and contemplation.

Yes yes yes. I used to do this all the time. It's so wonderful.

I need to get back to it.

[peacocks]

One of the reasons I started exercising was because after a few very close friends moved out of town I was faced with more alone time than before. Running and taking yoga classes (even when I sometimes have a buddy) are really fun to do alone.

I used to hate cooking alone but now I like it. I can experiment, not worry as much how things are going to turn out, and feel like I'm giving myself a treat. I listen to records more too. I've been going to the library alone every week and getting movies which I primarily watch alone. It's very relaxing and I feel like I have more to talk about with people when I do hang out.

Everything everyone mentioned above are also top notch activities, especially sitting in a place and reading.

[coldforge]

I like meditating, though that's not out of the house; though if you do it right you end up addressing the same torpor an inertia that you address by going into town.

[auto-da-fey]

Walking/riding my bike. It might only apply to smaller towns, but lately I've gotten kind of obsessed with the 'middle of the night bike ride through deserted streets' thing. Like, hopping on your bike at 2 AM or whatever. Air is crisper, it's simultaneously exciting and calming and it's oddly conducive to thinking and contemplation.

I'd say this works for cities as well. When I first moved to Philly and fell into some of the most off-kilter sleeping patterns of my life, I'd bike or run through the heart of Center City between midnight and 3am, and as long as it was a weekday, it was always lovely and still.
Weekends are drunk-douchenozzles-everywhere, but that's every town and city.

Exercise is good, too. In some ways I'm in a pretty similar situation, Chet--structureless days mean huge expanses of open time, which I don't always fill wisely; I have tremendous responsibilities, but there are more drunk-at-3 afternoons than there ought to be. Since a lot of what I do is solitary writing of the most unsexy sort, I try to vary my scenario up by venturing out to different coffeeshops, libraries, parks, etc., partly to remove the distractions of my apartment, and partly to get me out of the apartment for sanity's sake. Running at night basically burns the surplus anxiety and frustration that accumulates over the course of a whole day spent churning out 745 words.

I also try to spread out the (all too often consumerist) little reward-destinations so as to not exhaust them all at once--meet goal 1, sift through the dollar 7"s in the record store basement; goal 2, he mystery bookstore; goal 3, bike to Paul Robeson house; etc.

[alistarr*]

I'm kind of disappointed nobody's made the obvious joke yet.

I like wandering around looking at boring stuff like new housing estates and the outskirts of big shopping centres. Canals. I always kind of wanted to visit every postcode/locality on the Greater Manchester postcode map and see what was there. I think that might take looking at boring stuff to the next level. You could spend a bit of time at the Manchester Gallery, and the Whitworth Gallery too - if you like sitting around in the company of paintings, anyway. And the Manchester Museum has all sorts of curious stuff at which one might choose to look. There are a bunch of decent walks near you or a short journey away too. Go out to Edale on the train.

[FreddyKnuckles]

Most of the things other people like doing in groups, I prefer doing alone, which is a bit weird because I am not an introvert.

Going to the movies,
Going to bars,
Going out to eat.

Like that. Maybe because there are people around, and that's enough. I don't especially like cooking alone, that can be too alone.

Yeah I have a hard time doing any of those things alone.

If no one was around I would probably do the opposite: order take out, buy some beer, and rent a movie.

I'm assuming you don't have a car? I like to take long drives. You could also try taking a class in something. Not knowing much about your city it is tough to recommend but sometimes local community centers have cheapo classes in all sorts of random crap like art, photography, cooking, etc.

[Em]

I have encountered the same problem--very busy/flaky/out-of-town friends, little money, no desire to go hang out in bars and potentially meet people because I don't drink. I took up yoga kind of obsessively (a monthly membership is a good deal at the studio I go to), and I also volunteer for the rescue group where I got my dogs which keeps me pretty busy. Also, taking my dogs for super long walks.

[jm]

Go into a store full of expensive things and TOUCH ALL OF THEM.

Hell yeah, that's fun.

Also I can't recommend wandering around enough. On a day when you have nowhere to be, get your ass lost and find your way back somehow. This is one of my favorite boredom/sadness "cures". It doesn't hurt if, assuming you have a few £ to spend, you stop at a restaurant/coffeeshop you'd never been to before.

[Johnp]

I'm kind of disappointed nobody's made the obvious joke yet.

L'amour-propre?

I generally prefer going to gigs alone.

[peacocks]

listen to sing a song by earth wind and fire and sing along at the top of your lungs. Basically any earth wind and fire song could probably cure loneliness for at least a moment. My first semester in college when I didn't know anyone and was super bummed I would get lost driving around listening to elliott smith. I would also POST TO LPTJ.

[nonotyet]

Also I can't recommend wandering around enough. On a day when you have nowhere to be, get your ass lost and find your way back somehow. This is one of my favorite boredom/sadness "cures". It doesn't hurt if, assuming you have a few £ to spend, you stop at a restaurant/coffeeshop you'd never been to before.

And bring a camera. Wandering around taking pictures is among my favorite alone-time things.

[mixed cats]

Also I can't recommend wandering around enough. On a day when you have nowhere to be, get your ass lost and find your way back somehow. This is one of my favorite boredom/sadness "cures". It doesn't hurt if, assuming you have a few £ to spend, you stop at a restaurant/coffeeshop you'd never been to before.

And bring a camera. Wandering around taking pictures is among my favorite alone-time things.

This is basically how I treat every trip to a different city. Walk until the soles of my shoes are gone.

[ellaguru]

Most of the things other people like doing in groups, I prefer doing alone, which is a bit weird because I am not an introvert.

Going to the movies,
Going to bars,
Going out to eat.

Like that. Maybe because there are people around, and that's enough.

This, except I kinda am an introvert. And maybe not "prefer", but certainly "like".