I started this blog in April 2011 when redundancy meant that I had more time both to take advantage of the huge range of activities available in London and to write about them but less spare cash than previously. The main aim of the blog is to provide information on things to do in London that are free or very low-cost, focusing particularly on activities that those with more time on their hands are more likely to be able to take advantage of.
London has a reputation as a very expensive place to live and in some ways this is justified, particularly with regard to housing costs, and if you choose to, it is easy to spend a vast amount on socialising and entertainment in London. However, the capital also offers a huge range of free activities from museums, exhibitions, talks and walks, which generally aren't available to the same extent elsewhere. Like many people working here, I was simply too busy to take advantage of much of this until recently but now that I have more time I am discovering more and more such activities.
In terms of the types of activities I cover, well, there is inevitably something of a bias towards the types of things I'm most interested in but as I have a broad range of interests including art, cinema, theatre, live music, books, walking, cycling, gardening and crafts, I hope there will be something to appeal to a mix of people. I'm also going to try and cover activities across a range of boroughs although again there is likely to be a bias to those in central and south-east London nearest to where I live.
There are already some great blogs and websites which provide listings of activities in London such as IanVisits, Tired of London, Tired of Life and of course, Time Out London and some of these highlight free events. Perhaps it's just because I take more notice of what is happening locally but the part of London I live in also seems to be very rich in 'hyper-local' blogs as I think they're called such as The Deptford Dame, Transpontine and Brockley Central and again these can provide useful information about free activities locally. I want to be able to complement all of these, and the vast number of other blogs celebrating this great city, by adding my perspective on some of the interesting things there are to do here and demonstrating that you don't have to spend a fortune to have a good time in London, especially if you have More Time.
Having had to consider my future career options recently, I am more and more drawn to working in a way which allows me more free time on a regular basis, whether through freelance or part-time working or a mixture of both. So as the sub-title for the blog says, I also plan to include occasional reflections on time, work, money and life in general.
