It is a phenomenon that has plagued many a student in many a city¹ for as long as people have studied anything. You are staring at a blank page; the report is due the next morning – but there is not even a trickle of inspiration left in you. You would go out to a movie, or take yourself to dinner to ease the torment of your troubled intellect, but your pitiful collection of couch-coinage only adds up to $5 – no matter how you pile it up.

What do you do? McDonald’s again? Put a down-payment on that shiny new pen you’ve had your eye on at the campus bookstore? Rent a movie you’ve seen a hundred and one times before and sit with Second Sex strapped to your head in the hopes that by some miracle of osmosis the spirit of DeBeauvoir will inhabit your body? You could, or . . . you could try one of these tried and true methods for the eradication of writer’s block and boredom:

1. The Great CoffeeShop Relay Race. This activity is by far the most popular student activity (short of the limited OSAP Bachanalian Rights of Passages in September and January). Peterborough offers a wide range of venues that offer this particular inexpensive brown caffeinated liquid, some of the most popular being the Only Café, The Great Little Bread Company and Dreams and Beans. The Relay Race involves starting in one of these venues, with a coffee and a good Random Used Book (see below) and waiting for another player to show up. You will recognise them by the harried student look about them. Invite them to sit and discuss DeBeauvoir, the weather or whatever until you get bored and decide to move onto another CoffeeShop, where you find another Player and repeat the process. By the fourth CoffeeShop, you will have quite the crowd, be having fun, get guilty and run home to your esay.



2. The Random Used Book Shell Game. For this activity, your best bet is to check out the block of Water St. between Hunter and Simcoe where the highest population density of used bookstores (three, Dixons, Books n’ Things and Mark Jokinen Books) makes this activity faster (though the advanced player might choose three book stores on different streets . . .). You then purchase one book in each store that are related in some definite way. Some popular themes are:
   
   • Colour of Spine
   • First Letter of Authors Name
   • Number of Words in Title
   • Theme
   • Picture on Cover
   
   
   You then retire to either a CoffeeShop (see above) or a Field of Green (see below) and see which book wins. You usually give each book about 15 minutes to begin with and then see which, if any, grab your interest. You never know what jems you may find in a Used Book Shop – and if not, there’s always that essay . . .



3. Immersing Yourself in Local Art. There is always something artistic going on in the Peterborough area. From plays at the Gordon Best theatre and the Market Hall to Art Displays in local galleries such as Artspace on Hunter St., and the Peterborough Arts Umbrella in the Peterborough Square. In fact it doesn’t end there – during the nicer months you are likely to find much outdoor theatre, and in the winter keep your eyes open for Ice sculptures. But it doesn’t end there either: get involved! Creating art is the most fabulous way to involve yourself in local culture. You need only open your eyes to find a multitude of plays in progress that are only too willing to take on students to help with all aspects of production, from costumes to acting. This last option won’t cost you anything, except perhaps a fair chunk of your free time.



4. The Great Railway Getaway. The fact that the CN doesn’t come through the town anymore is a true disappointment to many travellers but a boon to the pathfinder. Either look for some abandoned overgrown path or seek out one of the former tracks that has been thoroughly pathified by the removal of the actual rails. Once you have found a path then strike out in whatever direction takes your fancy. Where are going? Did I choose the right path? Will the journey be difficult or easy? There are only a few of the soul searching existential questions you may be asking yourself during your trek. The point of this journey can be manifold – discovering a new path through the city may lead you to places you have never been, or make old places more accessible. For those of you into Peoplewatching, it can be a candid look into the backyard world of the Peterboroughian, and for those of you into health its great exercise. No matter where this path leads you, you can never be completely lost because your journey through the dark and unfamiliar environs is clearly layed out, pointing your way home. Be warned, however, that more than one of these paths leads to Trent.



5. The Riverside Trail Experience. Far beyond the sound and fury of Peter Robinson College, through the nest of Streets with the names of British Isle countries and over the Perilous Blue Footbridge of Doom (or at least of midnight skinnydipping) lies the forgotten City of East. Your nearly there, hang a sharp left and you’ve found it. Along the riverside, tucked in behind plenty of greenery and the odd ditch is a little riverside trail where nothing has really changed in 20 years. It doesn’t seen like much to describe it, but its almost a little anthropological experiment to see old Coke-cans circa 1982 and various other bits of pop culture mishmash that adorn what has been, for many a year, a little tucked away woodette where many the highschooler has giggled around a small bonfire drinking stolen beer while where many the Trent Student has done same but with a joint. See this place in the spring for a truly pretty site . . .



6. Discovering the Civil Forest. One of the best things about Peterborough is the fact that it is not so much a city, as a forest where someone went around and planted a few houses. It is, in fact, a spectacularly verdant city of the likes that are no longer very often 0seen in cities this size. Most gorgeous to explore in the fall, these little anachronistic wonders can make you forget that the word of cars and smoke is only, usually, a few 100 yards away. These little spots are also brilliant for reading in the summer and sloshing through in the winter. NOTHING beats a walk through a civil forest right after a snow storm, or at midnight, when there is a full moon. As ever the rule with these little cachets of wild (that can, incidentally be found all over town, but most notably up behind Prince of Wales School) is to leave it a beautiful, or more beautiful, than you found it, as it belongs to everyone.



7. The Great ______ Quest. This is a Peterborough favourite: You simply pick something you need and go out searching for it. It seems quite simple, but here is the catch – you don’t give up until you find it. Its seems banal but trust me, nothing brightens out a dreary afternoon in Peterborough like a good quest.
   

   Suggested Questing Fare include:
   

   • A Food Item with a specific expiry date.
   • A Certain Movie that is hard to find.
   • A Certain Specific Friend who is out when you call then.
   • A Pet Rock.
   • True Love.
   • Elvis.

   
   
   The more people you can drag out on you quest the better.



8. Peterborough Pirate Adventure. This is a fun one, and was pulled off by a friend of mine. The first stop is a hardware store to pick up some rope, some Duct tape, and maybe a few nails (a rock can double as a hammer). The second stop is a convenience store for a snack – you will need it. Finally you need a friend with that has an old sheet they don’t want, some tin foil, scissors, a black Magic Marker and cardboard.. Finally you head to Jackson’s Park with all of these possessions and set up a little worksite. Then you and your unwitting friend have to locate a fair amount of wood (or anything else that floats really) and, using your various tools, construct a small raft, replete with a flag with a skull and crossbones. You then fashion swords out of the cardboard and the tin foil, and head scarves and belts out of the sheets. You may want to have that snack now . . . You then sail the raft down the creek (this works best in spring when the water level is high) living the high life of the pirate. At the Only café you can scale the patio and hold them up for chocolate chip cookies . . .



9. The Random Drive. For those lucky student’s that are vehicularly inclined, there exists another option to all of this haphazard foot-traffic. Haphazard motorised-traffic! Use your moto-vehicle of choice to expand the range of many of the previous. For example, Inter-city Coffee Shop Relay, or taking your quest for good a good no. 2 pencil to ridiculous extremes. Failing those options, you can just drive randomly. All of those roads are there for a reason: it is your right, nay, you duty as hippie slackers to arse-about on public streets playing wicked music and generally living it up. Those of you who think Im kidding haven’t lived here for very often.



10. Get Involved! Peterborough is a hotbed of committees, clubs and councils dedicated to making this world a better place. From food drives to staging public action days, you will never run out of fun and controversial things to do . . . There are almost too many activities for the budding philanthropist or blossoming activist that lurks at the heart of each and every Trent Student. For more information you can look at signboards all around the campuses, or drop by the Peterborough Volunteers and Information Peterborough at 229 King St.