Other hobbies

[John York]

Just wondered what most of you do in your spare time between flying.

 

Being 86 I can't do anything physical now but my favourite and longest lasting pastime has always been and still is reading fiction.  My Mother taught me to read at a very early age and that gave me a love of story books .  The war came when I was six.  The schools were closed for most of it. My Dad was away in the army.   Due to possible raids, shopping for the rations was a very quick affair but still afforded a chance to re-supply our reading matter.

 

By the time the war ended they were having to hide newspapers from me because I was well and truly hooked on reading...anything!  I loved the strip cartoons, especially Jane, who managed to lose her clothes every day it seemed!

 

So, I've been an avid reader all my life and still spend more hours in the day at it than anything else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Taph]

Good for you John, I am the same don't go anywhere without a book, I am lucky I can sit in a car or bus and lose myself in a book. Also into crosswords, sudoku and as I am a bit younger still do a lot of walking, spent the morning playing petanque followed by a pub lunch

[Guest]

Glad to hear there's another like me.

 

I forgot to add that I don't go anywhere without my Kindle Paperwhite.  What a gift Amazon is  for those who read !

 

What's petanque?

[wain71]

Have to agree with the reading, I always have a couple of books and two aviation mags on the go, not sure how I don't lose track........and most racing games on my PS4.......both I find are good ways of getting into my own space away from the manic life......remember when we never had mobile phones? heaven!!

[Patrick Cox]

My other hobby when not flying is model trains. I am just finding my way back into the hobby after a 25 year hiatus and still finding stuff I hadn't sold when my marriage went t**s up. Ex forced me to sell off my valuable models and most of the rolling stock but managed to hide some of them. Unfortunately she was as cunning as a s***house rat and while I was at work made an inventory of all models I owned and had a friend value them. The rest is history.

 

As for reading when travelling? Best sleeping tablet I know of.

[Ken Q]

I too love to read.  History, literature, serious or not.  Fascinated by almost all forms of transportation except motor cars and motor boats . Sail, steam, that's another matter.  I have a model railroad that I've been working on for some time, but for the last few years the arthritis in my knees have prevented me from working on it. I just can't get down on the floor to work under the layout on the wiring.  A few years ago, before I got quite so bad, I did take the opportunity to get some real time operating and firing a  steam locomotive, including a four day fireman's course on the Cumbres and Toltec RR in northern  New Mexico and Colorado.

 

Have to have knee surgery so I can do some of this stuff again.

[YAMBA1]

14 hours ago, JohnY said:

What's petanque?

I did no know they play pétanque in the UK  The french must have exported  the game !

[Matthew Kane]

HO Scale Model Railway as well. Mine is Canadian National in the 1950's with a mix if diesel and steam. Currently in storage as I have a 4 year old that can't keep her hands out of my stuff. When the kids get older I will get it going again.

[YAMBA1]

The children had once an extensive set in HO I made and build it so complicate with switches turntables and so on....You needed to be Einstein to figure out how to navigate. Needless to say that the children could not play wit it. The children toys finished to be daddy's hobby.. My eldest son probably  will resurrected one day . But hurry up Son, you're  over 50

[gumbypickett]

10 hours ago, Patrick Cox said:

My other hobby when not flying is model trains. I am just finding my way back into the hobby after a 25 year hiatus and still finding stuff I hadn't sold when my marriage went t**s up. Ex forced me to sell off my valuable models and most of the rolling stock but managed to hide some of them. Unfortunately she was as cunning as a s***house rat and while I was at work made an inventory of all models I owned and had a friend value them. The rest is history.

 

As for reading when travelling? Best sleeping tablet I know of.

Sounds very similar to me Pat, but my now ex wife insisited  I take all of my Hornby rolling stock and 

Peco track to get it out of the way. I now have a gorgeous 2yo Grandson who will be head over heals 

in another year or so when he's old enough to appreciate it. I still love trains but flight simming is

now priority for me. Unless I change my Grandsons mind.

cheers

Gumby 

 

[W2DR]

I played golf for over 54 years. Unfortunately, a medical problem a few years back stopped all that. So, I turned to collecting movies. I've always been a huge movie fan. I have a bit over 5,000 of them now and I spend most of my time thinking about the old days, and my first love, flying with P3D and watching in-flight movies on the other monitor............Doug

[flyingleaf]

Same as you John. Love books (Not reading tablets). From the moment I could read I've never stopped. I call it "Brain food".

[Guest]

'I played golf for over 54 years.'

 

I used to play too.  In fact, my regular partner in the Sunday morning four-ball when he was a young lad was Justin Rose.  All over now of course.  I borrowed a club from the Pro' the other day just to have a swing.  I did one swing and the pro' had to come out and half carry me to a chair and sit me down with a glass of water.  My wife nearly had a fit when she heard what I had been up to and called me a silly old fool.  She's probably right.  Taught me a lesson though.  I can't do anything physical any more!

[W2DR]

Silly old fool . There was  a fellow at my golf club who had experienced almost every operation known to man. He was 84 years old and still could shoot his age. Whenever I saw him in the clubhouse I'd say "How are you doing Julian?" And his reply was always the same...."I'm doing just fine today. I'm still vertical and breathing."..........Doug

[YAMBA1]

Did  not heard  from any Poker Fans? This would be the most addictive card game I know.

[W2DR]

Try pinochle. It puts poker to shame..............

[olderndirt]

Reading for sure.  Before I had my eyes refurbished, could read without glasses but, with 20/20 restored, it's glasses for reading and others for computer - the only gain, off the shelf shades and no glasses for TV.  Many of my must read authors are Brits - Kate Atkinson, Philippa Gregory,  Allison Weir, Stuart Macbride, Iain Rankin and Denise Mina to name a few.  Right now I'm reading as much of Rick Atkinson as I can find.

[Guest]

Yes, Doug.  Golf is a game that's bound to give anyone a medical problem.  In the brain! The most frustrating game I know and you always think you're better than you really are.  Even the distance you can hit the damn thing.  You always think you can hit it further than you can and then spend the rest of the time trying to get yourself out of the trouble you've put yourself in!

 

You get so you hate it but always come back for more.  Daft.  I got down to 11 and spent the rest of my golfing life trying to better it.  I could occasionally play to it, but I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I bettered it.  Certainly not enough to come down any further.

 

 

[Doc_Z]

Played golf several times a week until my knee gave out a couple of months ago.  Waiting on a knee replacement, then maybe back to the course until the other one gives out.

[W2DR]

5 hours ago, JohnY said:

Yes, Doug.  Golf is a game that's bound to give anyone a medical problem.  In the brain! The most frustrating game I know and you always think you're better than you really are.  Even the distance you can hit the damn thing.  You always think you can hit it further than you can and then spend the rest of the time trying to get yourself out of the trouble you've put yourself in!

 

You get so you hate it but always come back for more.  Daft.  I got down to 11 and spent the rest of my golfing life trying to better it.  I could occasionally play to it, but I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I bettered it.  Certainly not enough to come down any further.

 

 

You're so right John. It can, indeed, be frustrating. But you always come back for more. It's probably just as well that the medical problem ended my golfing career. At one time, many years ago, I played to a 2. But, as the years went by, it gradually moved up to a 4, then a 7, then a 9, and then finally to a 12. But you know what it's like. Most golfers would die to play to an 11. When you get that close to single digits the game changes. At least it did for me. I began to worry less about my swing and started to worry more about where the ball was going to go. God, I just wish I could putt. Friends I know have asked me about beginning to play golf when they retire. My advice to them is always the same.....avoid it like the plague....unless you like endless frustration. But, to each his own. I enjoyed the years I played. But, I gotta say, I know now that I wasted many days of my life chasing the little white ball..........Doug

[Taph]

Sorry slow reply, Petanque is a French game also known as boules,  you throw a jack which is about the size of a golf ball, and then you throw metal balls about the size of a cricket ball to see who can get nearest to the jack. Number of players varies, and there is a peg board to score first team or person to 13 wins

[Taph]

And if we are moving on to cards, I spend a lot of time playing canasta against the other half, have played whist, bridge, and most card games 

[Guest]

Ah.  Thanks for that.  I know boules.

 

My wife and I together with her parents used to spend many happy hours playing the Chinese gambling game mahjong.  Good job we only played using pennies.  Thousands of pounds would have changed hands otherwise.  

 

There was a road near where I lived called Pennyfields and it was where many of the Chinese families in London lived.  We would go there shopping for Chinese food ingredients and during the summer the old men would be sitting on the pavements in their fours playing the game.  I dread to think of the amount of money that changed hands.  The Chinese, it always seemed to me, were/are great gamblers.

 

That area was all cleared out for redevelopment years ago and the Chinese community moved lock stock and barrel to the eastern end of Soho, now rightly renamed Chinatown.  The Chinese keep the area spotless, very colourful and crime free.  Its where my wife and I go to meet our family for a meal when we travel to London about four times a year.  There's a similar area in Manchester though not as large.   They do have a massive underground Chinise restaurant there though and the food was always superb when I used to visit while on business in the city.

[Rodger Pettichord]

Normally, I would say "Reading," but recently I've been immersed in writing. Two friends and I are publishing a novel trilogy and are hard into the post-editing rewriting and preparation for printing. It's almost like work.

[Guest]

Plow Rodger, you'll get there in the end and there's nothing like the satisfaction you feel when your story finally gets published.

[larryisenor]

I'm another one who is involved in model railroading although I probably spend more time with flight simulator (Mostly designing airports not flying). I recently joined a model railroading group and found out one of the other guys is a flightsimmer too.

Larry

[VH-KDK]

My main interest after flight simming is looking after my Macaws. They need a lot of attention. I currently have a breeding pair of Blue and Gold Macaws in the garden along with a Blue and Gold and a Scarlet that live in the house. 

I also enjoy reading when I get the time, mostly aviation related but at the moment I am reading about Joseph Goebbels on my Kindle.

 

I had an OO layout when I lived in England but I had to leave it behind when I came to Australia and just brought the rolling stock which is now just on display. I recently visited my brother in Brisbane who is building an N gauge layout but I was shocked to see just how expensive the items are now. It is pleasing to see just how many people have railway modelling as a hobby.

 

[andy1252]

Reading, definitely. In fact, not a hobby or past-time, but an intrinsic part of life. Always had my nose in several books/comics/encyclopaediae as a kid, and still have several on the go at a time. Must have a couple of hundred yards of bookshelves around the house. One of the happiest accidents of my life occurred when we moved down to Devon in 2001, facing the demise of both our previous careers and wondering what we'd do to get through to "retirement". We'd bought a property which included a couple of flats to rent out, but still needed to find another source of income. Decided we'd buy a ready-made running business and looked at all sorts. I could have been a jam factory magnate! But by pure chance we ended up buying a little second-hand book shop. And after three years we "upgraded" by buying an even bigger one from the then retiring owners (the Dartmoor Bookshop, in Ashburton, if anyone knows it). Apart from the minor issue of buying the place (including the freehold) just as the banks went belly up and the world went internet mad, it was heaven! Three floors of books, out buying all sorts of wondrous collections of the most fascinating stuff all the time, and of course - we get to keep whatever we want. So now I have a library I'll probably never be able to read all the way through, and yet I still can't walk past a bookshop and still buy loads of 1 penny plus postage odditoes of Amazon. Eventually had about a dozen years in the antiquarian and second hand book trade, learned all sorts of fascinating stuff and will never be short of a book again. Last couple of years it's mostly been biographies and science (physics, chem, astronomy etc) for me, plus always reading trash, sci-fi and cars/boats/planes etc. Oh, and art. Yep, and architecture. Old photo collections. Mind you, haven't read a daily newspaper for probably 40 years now - I'm picky about precisely what type of trash I'll tolerate!

 

And every time I see a house without at least one wall of books, in a paper or on TV or whatever, I just wonder how the hell these people get through life!

[Guest]

I like Torquay.  My wife and I have had quite a few holidays there over the years.  Now we live in Minehead.  That started simply because of my fascination with 'Lorna Doone' and I wanted to follow the story and see the places mentioned in it..  I'm glad to say that the Doone Valley and other places remain largely unchanged and are still a delight to visit.

 

For reading, I'm still hooked on 'Westerns'.  The people who populated the American west in the late 1800's were strong and I really admire their resilience, especially the women folk.

[adambar]

Nothing, trying to stay alive at this point.

[Jack Sawyer]

I have more hobbies than time, hiking 3 1/2 hours a day, writing short funny aviation stories, writing a novel, making comics, playing PS4 games, chess, studying quantum physics, restoring old Apple IIc and Mac SE computers, playing the old Infocom text adventure games on them, reading science fiction, history, and anything tech related, P3D and XP, music, cooking, and more.  Like I said, more hobbies than time.

[W2DR]

Good on ya Jack. I have a lot of interests too, especially quantum physics and astrophysics, but I just don't have your stamina..............Doug

[Mickel]

I've been pushing toy soldiers around since, um, yeah... too long.  Started out in plastic tanks, evolved to little metal tanks (still hundreds unpainted), then ships (again, many yet to be painted).  Dabbled in other stuff along the way.  Finally decided circa first world war ships is the 'purest' form that I'm interested in.  The terrain for them travels easily.  Barely touched the things in years - basically since moving to Oz and having kids.