What are a few things to do when it’s a rainy day?
One is… just sit or lie back and listen to the rain. Take in the pit-pat rhythm. Hear the patterns of thunder. Or pull back the curtains and WATCH the storm. From indoors, it can offer enjoyment very different from being out IN it.
Another thing to do is, of course, read. If you feel you do not have enough in your paper library, there are plenty of places to look for digital books free or cheap. Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited allows renting up to ten at a time for $3.99 a month. If you want something less contemporary, The Online Books Page is a guide to many available at academic and not-so-academic sites, as does the well-known Project Gutenberg, and The Internet Archive. Another the writer has found very helpful is Manybooks, offering free books for download in a variety of genres and formats.
There is always surfing the net. A favorite site for many is TV Trropes (which also covers literature and film), an encyclopedic collection to track down and discuss such items as the “Hannibal Lecture”, “Everything is Online”, and “Fandom Berserk Buttons”. IT has been denounced as a “time sink”, but that’s just what need if there is time on your hands. Sign in and GET LOST.
There are plenty of popular games online. Many people like to play the online version of Yahtzee. The classic text adventure games from Infocom and the like, when “graphical” was a name unknown, are hard to find on disc, but they have come back on the Web. The BBC offers the original version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game in all its “textualic” glory. And a collection of Infocom’s “lost” classics is at https://pot.home.xs4all.nl/infocom/.
If you are solitary, solitaire is an obvious pastime to turn to. And why stick to the time-worn, single deck Canfield and Klondike, when you could explore Grandfather’s Clock, the Empress of India, or The Salic Law? Sources, downloadable or online, for many, many variants include:
- Lady Cadogan’s Illustrated Games of Solitaire or Patience
- Mary Whitmore Jones, Games of patience for one or more players
- Master List of Patience Games, Wikipedia
- Single Player Games
- Solitaire Network
And there are more elaborate online games like Robin Hood Bingo.
Here’s hoping this is just the beginning of ideas for you.
