What hobbies do you have to unwind?

Oh what fond memories! I spent my early years all along the Thames from Barking to Southend…:smiley:

Hey M. how much did you have to drink to start Barking. Oh, and did you bark all the way to the south end?

The Ever Bookers VIPER

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No, i don’t bark at all or drink much… But i’m told I do w(h)ine from time to time! :smile:

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Fascinating Mushroom. Stuff of legend and ritual. it’s common name Fly Agaric comes from the medieval use where people used to add some to milk to attract ad kill flies. Apparently the Red and white colour is one of the reasons Santa Claus is traditionally seen dressed in Red and white. I heard in a programme on R4 last Xmas, that in One or more of the Areas around LApland , the Religious leaders / witch doctor types (Shamans?) used to visit the nomadic Reindeer herders (Reindeer pulling the sleigh ?! ) in the dark months and because of the cold, the “Tents” had no doors. They were accessed through the hole in the top which also served to let the smoke out which also accounts for the “Coming down the chimney” tradition. I believe they “Brought blessings” for the families and the ingestion of Fly Agaric was an integral part of the celebrations. Apparently too the reindeer eat them and the “herders” knowing full well the advantages of “A bit of a buzz” recycle the effects by drinking the urine of the person who has eaten the mushroom. (I don’t know how many times the effects can be passed on in this way before the halucogens become too weak to bother about :laughing:

Mycology is one of my habitual pastimes and I eat all sorts of strange coloured funghi, which is regarded as very strange by those in the uk as we do not have a tradition of doing so and are constantly bombarded with “don’t do it - it’ll kill ya” stuff ! (Maybe the perceived {and actually quite Real ! } danger is a part of the attraction for me ? )

Muscari is indeed an “Amanita” several of which are quite nasty - The “death cap” and also
"Destroying Angel" are a couple you need to be able to identify if you are going to play this game [Note - There ARE others ! This is not a game for those who are not prepared to do extensive research ! - There ar NO “Demo accounts !” ] - DEATH CAP contains some nasty stuff - Around 27 different lethal toxins ? and if consumed (around a single cap or less) they taste good I understand but after 24 hours you develop something like flu symptoms (after the mushroom is already digested. Often admitted to hospital and released after a day or two apparently recovered one dies in pain due to massive organ, including liver and kidney failure after around a week ! - No known antidote !

Muscari however is actually (I read in one of the more advanced books) not that bad and One would need to consume around 70 kg at a sitting to do yourself serious physical harm :sunglasses: Shall I try it ? Now that I know that ? it is likely that I will, next time I find one ! It does have something of a reputation though for producing dark and scary (Satanic even ?) “trips” !

thanks for that lovely photo @anon46773462 :smile:

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No, don’t try ingesting them, 70kg would definitely kill you.

Immaterial old boy - you ever seen 70 kg of mushrooms ? - Simply couldn’t be done ! :laughing:

[Edit - by way of clarification - I see that my post could be taken as ambiguous - my first venture down this route will be a half of a cap - with the other half held in the fridge, for analysis if necessary - This is my standard procedure for a “New” mushroom and my long suffering OH knows exactly what to do if things are “looking bad” ! - :wink: ]

I spend most of my free time by scrolling news feed in the social media apps which is very bad and totally wastage of time but i am addicted to it. I actually want to unwind this hobby.

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If you get pleasure from this , don’t think at all its waste of time.

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Yes, many professionals researching the arena of social media addiction think it works in the same way as drug addiction. There are social media timers to help limit time wasted and instead one can choose to spend their time improving their forex trading skills or learning a new language with an app like Duolingo for instance, instead of working for companies like fakebook for free (time spend browsing social media apps fuels the information feeding their algorithms, thus is akin to working for them).

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Meditation , exercise and finding good food to eat

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As I work Monday - Friday 7 - 3:30 and deal with impossible patients, I enjoy hitting skunk come sunset every day. I also enjoy reading/studying over the weekends, sightseeing, listening to music, among other hobbies

I tend to do the same thing lol but I like looking through other traders vids and posts really, I try to stay away from random celebrity news and other bs that doesn’t matter

Lovely! I grew up in Greenwich, then bought a flat in Surrey Quays, overlooking a dock, our local pub was a converted barge, The Wibbly Wobbly. Then at the same time I worked at Customs House on the Thames, and our work local was a converted boat on the Thames. So for several years I did the majority of my drinking on boats, despite not being a sailor. Happy days.

In terms of hobbies (sorry to have diverted the thread with reminiscence!), I am restoring a 1960s MG myself, restoring a Georgian house largely by myself, I lose myself trading goods and exploring in Elite Dangerous, I watch a lot of boxing and F1 (fortunately Mrs Templar and our three sons are heavily into both, too), plus with four kids in the house (our youngest, Alice, is five) it is easy to slot into the kids’ world and remove yourself from any real life stress. So variously that means watching Sofia the First, beating the boys at FIFA, going for a walk (we’re lucky enough basically to live in a holiday destination), cooking meals as a group of six or generally just enjoying family life. Plus I read a lot - just finished a biography of Napoleon and the Game Of Thrones books, now three quarters of the way through Margaret Attwood’s Oryx & Crake trilogy. Basically, various forms of escapism.

Loved reading about photography and aquatic life in here already!

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Here is another close-up of a hermit crab in my aquarium. Combining two hobbies in one!

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Great photos, Manxx! I’m always amazed by your pictures. Maybe you can create your own thread here with all your beautiful shots. Seeing your nature-themed photos are just so relaxing. :heart_eyes:

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Love your photos @anon46773462 and @Quadricolor. Keep 'em coming. :slight_smile:

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Going for a looooong walk in the nearby natures reserve is always pretty good for unwinding

I always run into at least a few of these guys lounging around on the grass, or hopping past me on the trail. I think there’s at least 50 of them in there

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Beautiful! What camera do you use? @Quadricolor Same question for you @anon46773462!

I think @anon46773462 just uses his Samsung phone most of the time. I think I read that in another topic. :slight_smile:

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This is correct, in fact it is the only camera I use. I used to always use an SLR camera until the Nokia 1020 41mp revolutionised mobile phone technology.

The dilemma is always whether you happen to have your camera with you when you suddenly see something you would like to photograph. Since nearly all the pictures I take are entirely spontaneous then my phone camera is the only “smart” solution to this. Especially now that nowadays phone camera technology is developing really rapidly.

I still use my Samsung S7 but I have been really tempted to upgrade now to the S9 because of its dual aperture feature, but I read that the S10 due next year will also include a wide angle lens and so I am going to wait until then (if I started upgrading annually I would soon be in big trouble! :smiley: )

The only feature that I really miss which the phone camera is not good at is a telephoto function. It is also not so good when there is a big contrast in lighting such a candle in a dark room.

Here are some recent examples of what I consider reasonable quality from a phone camera:

This is a combined composition from a wooden church built in the 1760’s. The left hand side is inside the church and the right hand side is the same wall from the outside - after 250 years of weathering:

wood

This was a frosty morning today, beautiful pastel colours:

Although cameras can never really capture the total atmosphere like the silence or peacefulness, this was, for me, a beautiful scene of simple innocence: a man riding a bicycle in the early sunshine on a brisk, peaceful autumn morning:

And a faithful reproduction of both bright and dark contrasts and the colours of the rainbow just as it was. I am always fascinated how so much detail can pass through such a small aperture on the back of my “phone”! :smiley:

…and maybe just one more…a black and white composition of a gnome and tree blending into total synchronisation…:

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