Over
brekkie I had a look-see on-line. The chap who hid the geocache I
couldn't find yesterday has put up another hint. Apparently he's
hidden it under a rather enormous tree stump. I think it can stay
where it is; I've struggled out there once already.
Yesterday
I finished up by saying "Now
to see if there are any leaks in that rubber dingy. Best to test it
first in the living room rather than have it sink on its maiden
voyage on Sunday..."
The
dingy seems OK, but there was a split in the pump's hose. So we took
the "er indoors TM" -mobile
to the garage, left it there, and went on to Argos to register out
displeasure.
To
be fair the people in Argos were helpful and sorted us out a new pump
(without a hole in it).
We
then went for a little outing to Kemsing. Regular readers of this
drivel may recall that a couple of days ago I spent half an hour
scrambling all over a tree trying to find a geocache. I went back to
that tree and found the thing in less than two minutes.
From
here we had a little pootle through the woods then drove up to the
village sign where we played a wherigo. I spend hours making these
games for others, and rarely get a go at playing one myself. This one
was not unlike one I wrote from scratch; you start off and it tells
you how far away you are from the final geocache. That's all you
know. So we started off and found we were a few hundred yards from
where we needed to be. We chose a direction at random and (pausing
only briefly for "Furry Face TM"
to bark at the locals) walked for a hundred yards. We checked the
game and saw we were a few hundred and fifty yards from the final
location... And so we proceeded. To be honest there were only so many
directions in which we could go, and it was a rather scenic village
through which to wander.
It
probably took us longer to complete the final twenty-five yards than
it did the rest of the game.
We
failed utterly at hunting down a cache hidden in a phone box, and
after a quick ice-cream we drove off down the road for a mile or so.
As we drove I got a little stressed at other drivers. Do they
*really* have to be quite so close behind?
We
parked up and walked across fields and woods filled with bluebells to
sign a challenge cache. This was one you aren't allowed to claim
until you have found (at least) one hundred geocaches twice in
one calendar month. We did that last weekend in Cornwall.
We
did another quick cache as we were in the area then made our way
home.
As
we drove we got a message. A friend of a friend's friend's cat's
aunties next door neighbour's friend's friend had a canoe they didn't
want. It was going free to a good home. Did I want it?
Whilst
there are no hard-and-fast rules about aquatic geocaching I have
formed the distinct impression that it is the done thing to take to
the high seas in a canoe. Only the Great Unwashed set sail in rubber
dingies, and consequently are somewhat looked down upon. So, having
dropped "er indoors TM"
off at the garage to collect her car I drove round to Birling Road to
have a look at this free canoe.
Oh
dear...
I
must admit my hopes weren't high. When I arrived the girl greeted me
with the news that it needed a little work doing. So I told her I had
only one question; does it float? If it floats, all else is piddling
details. On reflection her answer was something of a giveaway. She
said "not very well".
That doesn't really answer the question does it? Things float or they
do not.
So
we went to have a look at the canoe.
It
was a bit tatty, but what do you expect for free. However the first
thing I noticed about it was the foot long split along the top. And
then I saw the gaping hole in the underside where a previous mariner
had been torpedo-ed. This was no small leak; there was a hole beneath
the water line through which you could stick both hands.
She
seemed rather disappointed when I declined her kind and generous
offer.
I
came home, got a bucket of water, and washed the bird poop off of my
car. I could have done a much better job of cleaning the car, but
washing bird poop was good enough for me. I then tested out the new
pump. It worked rather well.
"er
indoors TM" then got busy in the garden. I
got busy watching Star Trek...
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