London On The Cheap

Thanks to a little weather system named Gale Naruporn the coming week of summer is looking less predictable than ever. As conditions could switch between sunny and nasty at the drop of a windsock, here's a special edition of London On The Cheap with both indoor and outdoor activities to assure you'll make the most of the week no matter what blows in.

Monday: Outdoors, National Insect Week launches at the Chelsea Physic Garden with an afternoon debate on whether the mosquito is the

href="http://www.londonisfree.com/2008/06/is_the_mosquito_the_deadliest_animal_on_the_planet.html">deadliest animal on the planet

(hint: it is). RSVP for this and you also get the chance to wander the gardens for free. Indoors, the comfy Roxy Bar and Screen hosts a

href="http://www.roxybarandscreen.com/listings.php?event=606">free screening and Q&A

of Rupert Brockstein's 'Blood Red Letters', aThis is Spinal Tap for the film industry.

Tuesday: Outdoors, the world of church performances manages something we've never heard before as alphorns hit the front steps of St. Paul's. Indoors, you can learn about the industrious folk who constructed this very building at one of Shoe Lane Library's excellent lunch hour lectures from historian James W.P. Campbell, author of Building St. Paul's.

Wednesday: Outdoors, the rollicking More London film series brings another crowd-pleaser to the Scoop, the immortal Withnail & I. Just don't let anyone talk you into playing the drinking game in public. Indoors, have a go at a free taster class with the London Academy of Pole Dancing— this one you probably should combine with a few drinks.Thursday: Outdoors, Victorianists can do a free guided walk of Queen Victoria's Kensington Gardens to learn how the queen shaped the gardens and the gardens shaped the queen. Indoors, postmodernists can catch the next big street art show in decidedly un-'street' Knightsbridge: Trespass Alliance, complete with new commissions from London mollusc vandal Slinkachu.Friday: Outdoors, use specially discounted Thames clippers to explore the river's Dark Waters, an intriguing audiovisual installation scattered across six piers. Indoors, the Southbank Centre explores the life and work of Daphne Oram: far-out pioneer of early electronic music, first woman to own a recording studio, and yes, composer of the Dr. Who theme.Saturday: Saturday, use a special London Festival of Architecture boat shuttle from Greenwich Peninsula to check out the remote outpost of the unexpected that is Trinity Buoy Wharf. Tours coincide with a special opening of the lighthouse housing Jem Finer's mega-epic Longplayer. Indoors, the art of tableau vivant

href="http://parabolatrust.org/projects/at_table.html">is revived

(it's about time!) in the Crypt at St Etheldreda's, with plenty of audience participation.Sunday: Outdoors, the second and final day of the Carnival de Cuba brings timba music, rum-heavy drinks, and one heck of a conga line to Southwark Park. Indoors, the National History Museum's entomologists invite you to bring a mystery bug or two to The Insect Roadshow, which operates just like the Antiques Roadshow but with a much lower chance of turning a profit.Or, you could stay in and brainstorm silly names for the next weather system.

Partly cloudy image courtesy of silyld via the Londonist Flickrpool.

Check out London is Free for more ideas of things to do for nowt. Check the websites for more information.