...... And as if this week's look at free and cheap entz to keep you out of trouble in the week ahead isn't enough, there's always your local free festivals
Thursday: Join a tour of the new Medicinal Garden at the Horniman Museum for an informative discussion on the evolution of poisons and cures. Tonight, 7- 8pm, free but please book in advance by emailing [email protected].
Friday: Get on your bike for the monthly Critical Mass bike ride, pedalling off at 6pm from under Waterloo Bridge for a stately cycle reclaiming the streets.
Saturday: It's Collaborama! Day at the Alternative Press Festival at The Miller, 96 Snowfields Road, London Bridge, SE1 3SS. Witness and participate in live zinemaking with Yorkshire printing machines and various comix and small press creative stuff. Antifolk lounge session, barbecue and workshops from 11am till late. All free.
Entry to the Museum in Docklands' Thames Treasures exhibition is also free this weekend and there's a talk about the Port of London Authority Archive between 3-4pm (free but call to book 020 7001 9844).
Sunday: Museum of Childhood Festival 11.30am-4.30pm in the museum grounds. Live music by Tragic Roundabout, street performers and rickshaw rides, designer stalls and tasty food. Plus lots for kids to make and do. Drop by, free.
And there's more from the Alternative Press Festival with a chilled out Alternative Press Fair between 11am-7pm celebrating comics, zines, poetry, art, radical literature and moer at St Aloysius Social Centre, Phoenix Road NW1
Monday: Bunk off work early and harbour Great Expectations for learning more about Charles Dickens from the man himself (well, a damn good impersonator at any rate). Be at the Barrowboy and Banker pub, London Bridge from 4pm, with £5 for the thrill.
Tuesday: The first Tuesday of the month is late night candlelight opening at Sir John Soane's museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields from 6pm with last entry at 8.30pm but you should be warned there are often queues and there's no booking but boy, what a treat, if you actually get through the door.
Wednesday: As part of the National Theatre's Watch This Space season, take a walk through the metro-boulot-dodo unseasonable installation, evocative of winter... as if the weather itself weren't enough to remind you of that. Between 1-7pm, free.
