3 September 2019 (Tuesday) - Adventure Labs

I was fast asleep when Treacle decided to start walking on my head. Having walked across it once, she walked back again. And again. I wish she wouldn’t do that.

I tried to get back to sleep; I eventually gave up and got up feeling like death warmed up. I made myself some toast and as I scoffed it I peered into the Internet. Facebook was heaving with teachers whinging about what a hard life it is having to go back to work. Doing a six-hour day after six weeks off must have come hard.

There were also posts about how the local council are planning to inspect the bins we put out and leave stickers on bins with the wrong sort of rubbish in them. It’s getting so you need a degree in dustbin studies before you dare throw anything away. Ashford council posted up to one comment on Facebook saying “We're not actually including blocks of flats and communal bins in this campaign”. Whoops! If my bins get the thumbs-down I know where I’m chucking my rubbish.

I had a load of emails telling me that people had been out visiting my new series of geocaches. All caches found; no issues reported. I’m relieved about that; the plan for today had been to go out and check all was well, but it would seem that all *is* well.

What do you do when you get two reports (on the same day) about the same film pot, one of which says “GPS co-ordinates twenty metres out” and the other says “GPS co-ordinates spot on”?

What with the vagaries of my work pattern I was not expected to turn up at work today. Seeing a new type of geo-adventure had appeared in Hastings Old Town I’d asked if anyone fancied a day out. As is so often the case, most people were busy, but Gordon was free. I took the dogs; we all met up on Hastings sea front and had quite a good time.

Geocaching Adventure Lab is a new thing. The idea is that you go somewhere, answer questions about what you find, and each answer you get right is the equivalent of finding a film pot under a rock. It has the advantage that whilst a film pot can (and often does) go missing, providing an answer should be a relatively easier way to claim a find.

The Adventure lab in Hastings was based on the blue plaques that you find on the front of houses marking where famous people once lived. Having lived in Hastings for twenty years and worked in the area where we were walking I found this little tour amazing. I had no idea that the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti had lived in Hastings. I didn’t know that Hastings had once had its own bank based only a few yards from where I often go on drinking sessions. As always geocaching took me to the quirky little places. And we got nine joint First to Finds too. Result !!

However from a technical perspective the thing has one or two issues. It has to be done in an “on-line” mode. When I go hunting Tupperware I either have a GPS unit, or a phone which I set up at home. The Adventure Lab app requires an active Internet connection and it eats the battery. My phone used up thirty per cent of its charge in half an hour. And because the game requires an active Internet connection, I did struggle a couple of times (interestingly Gordon didn’t). In many ways the thing reminds me of a Wherigo. Perhaps this will replace them?

I’d certainly go do more of these.

Having bought three hours of parking (just in case) we found ourselves back at the car after only half an hour. It was then that I realised I’d left the car windows open. Whoops!

We said our goodbyes and headed homewards. I stopped off on the way to pick up a geocache that I’d had my eye on for some time. Having finally figured out where this one actually was I managed to claim another geo-resuscitation. Go me!!

We came home, and I realised Treacle had stopped shaking her head about. Before we left home she’d been constantly shaking her head. I’d said that if she was still doing it when we got home we’d be going to see the vet. Thinking about it, the head-shaking had stopped when we walked out the door this morning. I wonder what that was all about.

I had a spot of lunch whilst watching more “Black Mirror” then got on with my latest Wherigo project. I amazed myself; in four hours I got the thing to a stage where I can test it out in the field, and I got all the cache pages written up.

Hopefully I can have it all live by the weekend.

"er indoors ^TM" is currently boiling up some dinner. We’ve got cheese in the fridge and a box of wine, and Bake-Off is on the telly later.

And in closing did you know it is eight years to the day since I first met Fudge…

2 September 2019 (Monday) - Doctor Who Books

I was up rather early today. Too early for the dogs, both of whom stayed in bed as I watched an episode of "Black Mirror" as I scoffed my granola. This morning's episode was rather good. What if detectives could harvest the memories of those who'd witnessed a crime and play them back to use as evidence in a court? Could you refuse to provide those memories? What if they incriminated *you* of something else? Is nothing sacred?

​I got dressed. I could tell it was early as Treacle made no attempt to make off with my pants. 

It was cold as I walked out to my car. I popped to the co-op where I got some biscuit bars for lunch, then drove off in the direction of Pembury.

As I drove the pundits on the radio were interviewing Chuka Umunna. I was going to describe him as "the failed politician Chuka Umunna​", but like all politicians he seems to bounce back from disaster after disaster. Having narrowly avoided being hoiked out of the Labour party he then started his own party (which went straight down the pan), and now he's the drivelling democrap's Treasury and business spokesman. He's also a leading light in what is currently known as "The Rebel Alliance"; some bunch of politicians who are desperate to pull the plug on Boris Johnson's plan for a no-deal Brexit.

The pundits on the radio spoke at great length about "The Rebel Alliance" and their plans. All of them know what they don't want (a "no deal" Brexit) however no two of them can agree on what they do want. 

They should send for Mrs Miller who used to help run the Boys Brigade camps when I was a lad. When faced with a load of boys who couldn't agree on what flavour of soup to have (some didn't like mushroom, some didn't like tomato…) she mixed it all up and served it out. The fact that before she started everyone liked something was irrelevant. Because when she finished no one liked anything, and since no one liked it, everyone was in the same boat and was being treated equally. Chuka Umunna​'s rebel alliance could learn from this.

There was also talk of how Japan has started commercial whaling again. Whaling - in this day and age. Why do we have a navy if not to torpedo this sort of thing?

As I drove through Goudhurst my phone beeped.  A new geocache not three miles from work. I drove a little (long) way out of my way to the designated parking spot only to find that the final location was half a mile into the woods. I said some swear words and drove in to work.

The First to Find is still waiting to be had some twelve hours later.

Work was work; I did my bit and came home. Today would have been just another dull day, but today was the day that Terence Dicks died. He was one of my favourite authors when I was younger. Nowadays you can see endless re-runs of Doctor Who on the telly and you can but the DVDs. Back in the day the only way to see any sort of repeat of Doctor Who was to read the books that he wrote.

I had most of them… I wonder what happened to them?

1 September 2019 (Sunday) - Bit Dull Really

Another good night’s sleep. I thought I heard a thump in the night; did one of the dogs fall off of the bed?

I got up and went to have a look at the pond. It looked a little clearer than it was. Perhaps that bulb is doing something? As I peered into the pond the dogs came and had a look, had their morning tiddle, and went back to bed.

I put a load of washing in to scrub, made myself some toast and looked at the Internet to see that not a lot had been going on overnight. So I spent over an hour fiddling about on my new Wherigo project. An hour and a half’s effort gave another minute of game play.

Once I’d hung out the washing (and harvested the dog turds) "er indoors ^TM" emerged from her pit. I ran a quick test of what I’d done so far on the Wherigo; realised a serious mistake and spent a little while putting it right.

The Rear Admiral then arrived to collect Sadie. Like all dogs she was no trouble on her own; but being the third dog in a pack just meant we had far too many dogs. Jimbo looked well; his two weeks in France seemed to have agreed with him.

We then went out. First of all to Badlesmere where there was a chance of a First to Find on a newly-published geocache. Had we chased off after it the moment the email arrived we would have been first. But because we’d waited for pup collection, we were beaten by fifteen minutes. Oh well… Hopefully there will be others.

We then drove down to Boys Hall where we had a little wander. We managed to find one of the geocaches that eluded me a couple of days ago, but the one by the railway bridge is still on my “to be hunted down” list.

We came home, and I spent a little while sorting my fishing gear. I really needed a huge bucket for all the baits. I couldn’t find anything in any of the shops and supermarkets, but today I unearthed an old plastic lidded dustbin that we used as a toy box in years gone by. That’ll do.

I also looked at the trolley I take fishing. Other fishermen laugh at my trolley for the simple reason that it has sides and keeps everything in. “Proper” fishing trollies are flat (with no sides), and everything is held in place by endless bungee cords. The perfectly sensible way to lug your tackle about is seen as laughable whilst the obviously impractical is seen as the way to go. I can only imagine that most people are taken in by the designer label on the flat trolleys.

If any of my loyal readers could explain the merit of a designer-labelled utterly useless flat plank, please do tell. In the meantime I’m sticking with what works.

"My Boy ^TM" phoned. He was building a pergola; could I pop round and help. By “help” he meant would I hold the bits of wood whilst he hammered and drilled. With "er indoors ^TM" off out with her mates for the afternoon I was at a loose end, so something to keep me occupied was a good thing. It only took an hour or so to get the thing in place.

I came home, and watched a couple of episodes of “Black Mirror”, then did more Wherigo. Another hour and a half’s effort gave another minute of game play.

As I gave up Wherigo-ing for the day I saw I had some emails. People had been out looking for the geocaches I hid three weeks ago. I knew that one specific friend was going out today, and so I’d asked him to report on any obvious problems or issues. Some people had said that some of my caches were in the wrong places, others said that the hints I’d given weren’t helpful. There are those people who, when finding a film pot in the forest, move it to where they think would be a better place. Consequently the co ordinates and hints immediately become useless. But I was told that all was fine with this geo-series.

That is an answer that suits me.

I watched an episode of “Space 1999”. Back in the day this was the best TV show ever. Unfortunately it hasn’t stood the test of time.

I shall play some Mah-jongg, then might have an early night. It’s not been a bad bit of time off work, has it?