What are you up to this weekend? Here's a round up of our recommendations and a smattering of suggestions to help you make the most of your 48 hours leisure time.
All weekend:
Dress up as your comic book idol, see a Batmobile, meet Bill Shatner, poke stars from Being Human and buy geeky stuff at London Film and Comic Con at Earls Court 2, Saturday and Sunday (adults £5/kids £3).
Pray for fine weather and scramble for tickets to see Dizzee Rascal, Yeasayer, Hot Chip and many more as
Lovebox grooves under the trees in Victoria Park.
Shoreditch Festival brings the Proms, music, arts, food and a dog show to Shoreditch Park.
Forget Slumdog, hit the London Indian Film Festival.
Cloud Dance Festival has a feast of fresh dance at the Cochrane Theatre.
Find your local ping pong table or play in the pop-up ping pong parlaur and wiff waff with the riff raff
Friday:
It's the first night of the Proms proper and naturally it's sold out so listen to it broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall on BBC Radio 3. While you're there, get to grips with the Proms listings and book yourself in for something special.
Or you can always 'Listen Again' later and spend the evening at Bankside's first theatre, the little known and partially excavated Rose Theatre, first established in 1587. Shakespeare's seasonal classic
A Midsummer Night's Dream is showing, tickets still available for £10 and £8, 7.30pm start. NB: take a cushion and a jumper. Trust us.
Saturday:
Attention turns to Misty and Bert, the Tate Modern peregrines today with the RSPB setting up a viewing area by Millennium Bridge, complemented by footage from another peregrine nest. Runs throughout the summer, midday to 7pm, free.
At the time of writing there are still
tickets available for the venerable and gin fuelled
Chap Olympiad from midday till late, £12. Tally ho and hic!
The East London Printmakers' summer fete and exhibition could lure you to Hackney between 12-6pm (free).
Lunch at the Charles Lamb pub N1 takes a distinctly gallic turn with a belated Bastille Day menu and petanque tournament (starting at 1pm, £5 entry goes to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home).
There's a kinky car boot sale at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern selling everything from gimp masks, whips, leather corsets, vests and erotica to fairy cake. "Find a teapot next to a disco jesus statue, reclaimed rubber harness next to fluffy highheels in size 10." Entry £2, noon till 6pm.
The whistle blows to start the
Charity Clothes Swap at the Brixton Ritzy at 2pm. Take at least 4 decent items of clothing and get ready to jumble. £5 admission goes to Buenas Tias Brazilian Children's Charity.
Dress sci-fi for a special screening of Barbarella at the Royal Observatory as part of the Greenwich Film Festival from 6pm. Prize for best costume. Book now, £10. Open till 10pm.
Or is a 3 hour film about the Tolpuddle Martyrs screened in an east end church more your thing? Doors and real ale bar open at 7pm, Comrades film starts at 8pm, St John on Bethnal Green (£4/2).
Sunday:
Get on your bike and head for the "cyclists' paradise" of Ealing for the Mayor's Skyride over an 11.4km route (between 10am-3.30pm) with an "entertainment village" for some R&R after in Lammas Park.
Brompton Cemetery Open Day invites you to explore its magnificent Victorian
burial ground. Expect some Earls Court Festival presence between midday and 8pm. Want to paint a parrot, blow Alpine horns and enter a spaghetti eating competition? You need to visit the
Soho Festival in St Anne's Garden, Wardour Street between noon and 6pm.
Still not sorted? Check out our regular literary, arts and cheap recommendations of things to do. Browse all arts and events features and salivate over our latest food and drink content for gastronomic inspiration.
Looking ahead: Haircuts ahoy:book tickets for The 1234 Shoreditch music festival on Saturday 24 July before they completely sell out. Only £20 tickets left.
What are you doing? Let us know in the comments. And have a stonking time.
