FEATURES

Phil Walnuts on how to have a not unbearable January for not very much money at all.

Maybe it’s a good thing the economy’s f*cked. Because, as we shall see, the thriftiest things are often good for the planet, or good for you, or both. So as the great profit machine slides inexorably into the shiznit, your health, your social life and the environment benefit. Every cloud, eh?

Fun for free

Bristol and Bath are bursting at the seams with fun stuff you can do without spending money. There’s the new(ish), free-to-enter M Shed: have you found your house on its giant Bristol map yet? Or hidden inside the phallic fire-bomb shelter? They’ve got a special exhibition of work by the legendary fashion photographer Norman Parkinson coming up (21 Jan-15 Apr), alongside original 50s and 60s clothing from the museum's collection. It’s normally a fiver to get in, but get there on the last Wednesday of the month (25 Jan, 29 Feb, 28 March) and it’s free. Just over the swing-bridge is the ever inventive Arnolfini – always free to explore, this month they’re offering a chance to become part of the Full Moon Orchestra, a mysterious spontaneous ensemble that meets for a public rehearsal/performance every full moon, and is made up by all and anyone interested – including you, if you like. Also at Arnolfini, also for nothing, you can sign up to be part of a unique performance led by artist Monica Ross, in which you’ll become part of a moving collective recitation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

At the City of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, meanwhile, you can admire the amazing Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition (pictured below, running until 11 March), or join in the Chinese New Year Celebrations (28-29 Jan), a fun-packed weekender to see in the Year of the Dragon.

Glorying in the views from the top of Brandon Hill is the newly-restored Cabot Tower – stomp up the 109 steps and marvel at the panoramic vista. Take a paper aeroplane and see how far you can fly it off the top. Best on crisp, clear winter days.

To get a bit of a leg stretch and learn something about our fair city, try Bristol City Council’s excellent Harbour Heritage Trails (freely downloadable guided walks you can get at www.bristolfloatingharbour.org.uk), or City Heritage Walks (www.travelbristol.org/walking-bristol-central). If you need to get out of town, they’ve devised a range of country walks you can do, even if you don’t own (or don’t want to use) a car: www.travelbristol.org/countryside-walks.

Head over to Bath before 8 January to catch the last few days of Bruce Munro’s spectacular Field of Light at the Holburne Museum – a twinkling sea of fibre optic lights arranged like wildflowers that pulse and dance in the gloaming. Then duck into the Victoria Art Gallery for Peter Burke’s Earthworks (until 5 Feb) – an unusual exhibition of sculpture made from soils found within a 20 mile radius of Bath, which “explore the relationship between people, place and the earth, using for subjects people who are connected with the area”. Peter Burke himself will be giving a free exhibition tour on Sat 7 Jan. Also in Bath (and also free) this month is Illuminate Bath, a festival of light transforming the city’s streets into glowing works of art with projections and installations, every evening from 25-28 Jan.

Other good places for free fun include Ashton Court Estate – most of us have toddled round the mansion, had a bun in the café – but have you really explored it? Even in darkest January, the giant sequoia along Redwood Avenue retain all their towering majesty. Have you sat under the ancient Domesday Oak, or found the funny underground Ice House?

The sustainability-championing Create Centre on Smeaton Road is always an inspiring place, and from 7 Jan to the end of March, they’re exhibiting a life-sized cross section of a Victorian home that “demonstrates how a property of this age can be made more energy efficient and future proof” – it’s free to look at, and could give you ideas that save you money in the long run. Blaise Castle House Museum is another overlooked gem, sat amid 650 acres of parkland including a dramatic wooded limestone gorge and ancient monuments steeped in folklore. The parkland’s open all year round, and the museum – even in January – is open every Saturday and Sunday, and houses hundreds of weird and wonderful objects from homes through history, treasured toys, including the enduringly popular model train collection, and a display of beautiful period costumes. And yup, it’s all free.

Ways to save money

Grow your own!

Get on the list for a council allotment – they’re free, provide exercise with a useful result (unlike endless treadmill miles at the gym), offer a great way for kids to learn about food production, and (of course) provide you with more veg than you can eat. As food prices escalate in the shops, this ought to be incentive enough. Details here: www.bristol.gov.uk/page/allotments. Other local ways to get involved in growing your own include Bristol Community Farm (www.thecommunityfarm.co.uk), Eastside Roots (www.eastsideroots.org.uk) and Bristol Friends of the Earth’s local food guide, www.bristollocalfood.co.uk, which is full of useful advice and contacts to find out more.

Have a swish

As you doubtless already know, ‘swishing’ is a made-up word that means swapping your clothes with other people. Not in a furtive, hiding-in-a-toilet-cubicle way, but at a big organised party, where you bring along wearable but unwanted clobber and swap it for other people’s clothes that you want. Thus everyone gets ‘new’ clothes without spending any money. Can’t find a swishing party going on near you? Throw your own! Whilst we’re on the subject of budget fashion, Oxfam’s opened a cute boutique charity shop on Bristol’s Park Street, offering a pre-selected range of vintage and fashionable retro stuff. Ffi: www.swishing.com, www.oxfam.org.uk

Be a part-time veggie

Time for a change? The health benefits of eating less meat are well documented. It’s also a barrowload cheaper than being a meatatarian, as well as being better for the planet and for the little fluffy animals, of course. If you can’t face totally giving up on bacon sarnies, you could try being a part-time veggie (or ‘flexitarian’) and just, say, not eat meat on weekdays. You’re healthier, the planet’s healthier and you save money. Ffi: www.vegsoc.org

Throw a dinner party

Believe it or not, these can save you money too – as long as your friends return the favour (or share the cost). Cooking for others allows you to buy in bulk, to use one cooker to feed lots of people, to share heating… and it gives everyone involved a better social life, assuming your friends aren’t a bunch of boring arseholes.

Take up cycling

Could you do with more money? Course you could. Aside from the fact that riding a bike literally makes you fitter and more toned every time you do it and is about three times faster than a car¹, it also gives you more spare cash. The annual cost of running a daily-use bike need not be more than £50, whereas the average cost of a daily-use car is estimated at well over £6,0002. Whatever your salary bracket, as a non-car driving cyclist you’ll definitely be richer. Ffi: www.betterbybike.info, www.sustrans.org.uk, www.lifecycleuk.org.uk, www.bristolcyclingcampaign.org.uk, http://cyclebath.org.uk/

¹ According to several pieces of research. The most recent was conducted by UWE and found that a commuter travelling across central Bristol by car averaged just 4.68mph, compared with 12.39mph for a commuter on a bicycle.

2 Based on AA Motoring Costs, 2009. Figure refers to an average-priced car (£12-14k), based on 10,000 miles a year.

Go to the library

So much more than books – although these, of course, can offer a lifetime of free fun. Yer local library (assuming it hasn’t been closed down) also has DVDs, free internet and free newspapers. And it’s nice and warm. Ffi: www.librarieswest.org.uk or http://www.bristol.gov.uk/page/libraries

Volunteering

Giving something back can be fun. Immerse yourself in the boho arts hub that is the Cube cinema and try your hand at projecting films or putting on live music, cabaret, children's events, experimental performance, comedy and all the other unlikely stuff they do that doesn’t have a name yet. Or get out into the woods with Avon Wildlife Trust: from felling trees to dry-stone walling, they offer a huge range of friendly outdoor fun. You get exercise with beautiful scenery, learn some new skills and do valuable conservation work all at once. All for free. Ffi: www.cubecinema.com, www.avonwildlifetrust.org.uk

Eugene Byrne’s Top Tips

• Hunt squirrels and eat them. And pigeons. Sustainable, locally sourced, eco-friendly meat. Delicious roasted on a stick. Useful instructions here: tinyurl.com/squirrelmunch

• If it snows, turn the fridge off and put its contents in the garden.

• Road kill. Yup, more free meat. How do you like your badger? The letters page is thattaway…

• Offer to do work experience at a baker’s. Warmth and free buns.

• StealBorrow from work – toilet paper, tea & coffee, stationery. It’s all there for you to use anyway.

• Get admitted to hospital/prison. Nice and warm and you get free food.

• Buy ‘Booze for Free’ by local author Andy Hamilton. Read it. Make own booze.

Copyright Mike White and Eugene Byrne 2011