Bored in Reading Week?

Last Christmas, my parents decided to move to the middle of nowhere, giving me about a week’s warning. And as I haven’t yet learnt to drive, during these awkward St […]


Last Christmas, my parents decided to move to the middle of nowhere, giving me about a week’s warning. And as I haven’t yet learnt to drive, during these awkward St Andrews holidays I spend a lot of time flying solo. If this is a problem for you too, here are my handy hints about how to entertain yourself when there’s no one else around and you don’t want to work and you have stalked everyone you know on facebook 40,000,000 times and you’re really really bored.

1) Day One:  Make lists of things to do now and in the future, not a little shopping list, a life plan list. This can also be created in spider diagram form (seriously, it took me a whole day).

2) Day Two:  Build a fort. Because there’s no one to judge, you can really get into this. I’m lucky because my room is a box, so one sheet will cover the whole area; for those of you who are unlucky enough to have big rooms, this is a chance to use your imagination. Locate chairs, pillows and duvets and construct it in a way which isn’t dangerous to your well being. I threw in some extra fun by taking cool self-timer photos, then looking at them, deleting the majority, and wondering how many people would judge me for doing this. It was awesome!

3)  Day three:  The house raid. With siblings at school, why not take this opportunity to go through all their ‘discarded’ belongings and find some cool new stuff to bring back with you? By the time they realise that items have gone, you’ll be in St Andrews. This also works with your parents possessions too. (NB: I am not encouraging theft, only borrowing.)

4)  Day Four:  You’ve tried the intellectual stuff, today is a day to immerse yourself in some low key culture. If you haven’t finished Entourage (I cried) now is the time. Letmewatchthis.com lets you watch a lot… three films + three, hour-long tv episodes = your day taken care of.

5)  Day Five:  Write an article for the stand – I did and it feels grrrrreat!

See! The days fly by when they’re full of activities. Bring on inter-semester!