Among my many and varied
hobbies I fly kites. I no longer post on any kite-related internet
forums as it is too easy to misunderstand what someone else has
written and to have your own words misunderstood. It was the same
when I kept snakes, and now it seems to be the same with geocaching.
On Monday I mentioned that I hid a cache only to have it turned
down because it was too close to a playpark. At the time I didn't
realise there was even a playpark nearby. I've had other caches
turned down for the same reason, whilst I know of (at least)
four other caches which are closer to playparks than the one for
which I got the thumbs down. Including one of my own. So I went
through the official rules to get some guidance. The official rules
were vague, so I asked on a geocaching forum for advice.
In retrospect I really
wish that I hadn't. Perhaps I was being over sensitive, but some of
the replies were (in part) quite nasty. Having been accused of
having half a brain, other posts seemed to imply that placing a
geocache in the general vicinity of a school implied paedophilia.
Another took offence at perceived digs on my part (supposedly
aimed at people I don't even know) that I simply hadn't made.
I got the answer to my
question from an entirely different source. It turns out that
candidate geocaches are all judged on their individual merits by the
specific reviewers. Reviewers who live dozens (if not hundreds)
of miles away and who have no local knowledge. Instead they use
on-line maps, which are not always right - Google Maps has the
position of Norton Knatchbull school wrong by some miles. Which
clearly explains the variable way in which caches are allowed or
rejected.
This was a pain in the
bum. I'd taken the trouble to get council permission to hide some
caches in the Ashford Green Corridor, but one of the places I had in
mind is not very far (as the crow flies) from a football
pitch. Personally I didn't see any problem with the hide... It was at
this point that the doorbell rang.
The nice man had arrived
to service our boiler. It wasn't cheap, but regular readers of this
drivel may recall that the boiler went west a couple of years ago and
that was rather expensive. I'd rather shell out a reasonable amount
of cash yearly to keep the thing going rather than running this one
into the ground like we did the last one. It didn't take long, but
once the nice man had done I realised he's left the bottom cover off.
I've left a message on his phone for him to come back to fix it.
I then took Fudge for a
walk to Frog's Island to set that geocache. After all, I'd gone to
the trouble of getting permission from the council, and if it was too
near to a football pitch, then I'd decided I'd spit my dummy out and
formally squeal up all the others that might be in place but break
the rules anyway. As I scrubbled about hiding the cache Fudge
scrubbled about rolling in fox poo. I am reliably informed that you
can tell fox poo because when rubbed on a dog it smells of rancid
fish. Foul dog! I abandoned any plans I had to go on more of a walk
and we came straight home for bath time. With the dog scrubbed I did
the on-line registering of the cache I'd hidden, and there were no
quibbles. This one went live within ten minutes and was found for the
first time an hour or so later. You can see the details of the cache
by
clicking here.
A quick spot of lunch,
then round to collect the first fruit of my loin. We went to the
driving range again. I quite like smacking golf balls into the middle
distance. I didn't get on too well today - my back was playing up
somewhat. Probably because I was laying awkwardly on the floor whilst
playing "Doggie Doo" with Lacy a couple of days ago.
But I enjoyed myself. I came home with loads of dog-related
paraphenalia that my boy had got for me, including a new harness for
the pup, and a dog Advent Calendar. Fudge sat on my lap whilst I
pootled about on the Internet. As I pootled I realised I could smell
something. Rancid fish. The poor pup got another bath - this one was
somewhat more vigorous.
Meanwhile the mo grows
apace. There's no denying that I hate the thing, but it is raising
some money for a good cause. please feel
free to sponsor it; in eight days it is coming off.
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