Sept 12

1 September 2012 (Saturday) - Busy

Up with the lark, and having collected the Stanhopians we set off to the farm. Last weekend we'd left our mess tent up to dry, and it needed putting away. This morning it was still very damp, so we left it and got on with the business of the day. We drove up to Sutton Valence where we met up with the Sevenoaks contingent. Ten of us (and a dog and a push chair) went on an eight mile circular hike. Woods and shrublands, hills and vales. A picnic half way round, and C.A. even got an atomic wedgie and a geo-crack-watch into the bargain. Six hours walking found us thirty three geocaches, and did blow away a few cobwebs too. It was good to meet up with Team Wakefield; there are so many people in my life that I meet up with too infrequently.

Back to the farm to find the tent was dry, so we got that down and into storage before zooming home. Once home we had a quick cuppa and a bun and the clans gathered. We organised ourselves into cars, and set off to Sandgate where we met Team Hosey. Then (after a quick geocache mission) I found the off-licence whilst others found the chip shop. And as darkness fell we watched the fireworks. They were rather good fireworks.

It was a shame that hey were all over rather early, so we went back to the Hoseyarium where, after refreshments, we watched a film. "Rio". A Disney-Pixar film which was entertaining. And then home. It was late, and had been a long day, but we decided to watch today's episode of "Doctor Who", because we just knew that if we didn't watch it we would be told what happened.

So we watched it. And for those of my loyal readers, here's what happened..... No; I won't spoil it. But suffice to say that the episode could have done with a plot that didn't contradict itself at least once every five minutes. And having been billed as "every Dalek ever" I must admit to a degree of disappointment in finding that it was actually "every Dalek since 2005 except the black one".

2 September 2012 (Sunday) - An Engagement

I ached this morning. For someone who prides himself on leading an active an active outdoor life, just lately I seem to be suffering after a decent long walk these days. I never used to feel this. Perhaps I'm getting old?

I had the weekly weigh-in. My weight seems to be holding constant. It could do with going down some more. Perhaps I should try to be better at recording what I'm eating on myfitnesspal dot com? I then spent a little while getting laundry washed over a spot of brekkie. A dull job, but one which needed doing.

With my smalls airing on the line we set off to retrieve the catalogues I'd distributed to the masses on Thursday. I'm not sure the masses were grateful; but the masses rarely are. We then went round to South Willesborough so's "er indoors ^TM" could have a go at one of the town's better geocaches. I won't say much about this one; other than it is quite tricky to do, and I have suspected shenanigans in the past.

And then round to the Fudgery for an engagement party. The families gathered as did loads of friends; a gallon of ale was downed; a good time was had by all. And two geocaches got done into the bargain....

3 September 2012 (Monday) - Dull

I was falling asleep in front of the telly yesterday evening so I took myself off for an early night. I slept soundly for a couple of hours, and woke shortly after 1 a.m. feeling like death warmed up. I then saw every hour of the night, finally giving up and getting up at 5.30 a.m. It's now dark when I get up at 5.30 a.m., and I must admit to finding that to be vaguely depressing.

I got up; I pootled for a bit, and set of to work. A couple of days ago I mentioned that I've developed a tendency to mope. I moped today. The last few days have been really good; astro club, a walk and picnic with friends, fireworks, family barbecue, engagement party. Today wasn't particularly bad in any way. It just wasn't as good as recent days, and so (on days like this) I mope. I know I shouldn't. Things could be a lot worse. I was reminded of this in an email correspondence I had today with an old school friend who was asking if I'd had any luck contacting a mutual friend (who formed the subject of a blog entry from a few months ago) who recently got sentenced to five years for fraud. In our correspondence I heard of another mutual friend who's had to take very early retirement through ill health.

I might be sulking that it's a sunny day outside, and I might be sulking that the sun will set before I leave the building. But I have a lot less to sulk about than some people have.

I did my bit, glossing over the fact that today marks a year since my transfer to Canterbury, and then came home via Steve and Sarah. I'd left the astro club banners in my car, and they will be loading up all the astro kit for Challock Goose Fair soon and so will need the banners. I've also lent them my cooking hammer. I hope they appreciate the honour; I don't lend out my cooking hammer lightly....

4 September 2012 (Tuesday) - Stuff

I woke today with just the slightest feeling of envy. My brother and my cousin are on their way to the Arctic circle for a weeks deep sea fishing. Whilst in fishing (as with life in general) nothing is entirely predictable, it's not unlikely that they will hook several fish which will be over one hundred pounds in weight.

Whilst I like fishing I can't help but feel that I'd get bored with a week of it. And there's no denying that I'm not the world's best sailor. But I wouldn't mind a week's holiday in the Arctic circle.

Being on a slightly later start than usual I stopped off at the farm shop on the way to work this morning. A few months ago I was singing the praises of the farm shop. Today I was rather disappointed with them. For all that it is cheap, their fruit and veg isn't what it once was. The carrots today were frankly manky.

Talking of fruit, I got some decent apples from a market stall the other day. They were good, but quite expensive. And then I noticed that they all had the "Sainsbury's" label on them. The cheeky fellow had got them from the supermarket and upped the prices. It's a sad reflection of my life that I am au fait with the relative prices of vegetables (!)

I also stopped off in Godmersham on the way to work. Last week Jose gave me a ready-made geocache and this morning I hid it in.... I won't say where; I'll let those of my loyal readers who like that sort of thing find it for themselves. You'll know it's my one. There's precious few geocaches in the part of the world where I've hidden it. I know that fellow cachers have had problems trying to hide caches only to find there's already another within the minimum distance of 160 metres. I don't think there's another geocache within a mile of the one I hid this morning.

A late start made for a late finish. Too late to go to the Tuesday gathering of the clans. A shame - I missed meeting up with my mates. I also missed seeing "Being Human"; I do have the episode on the Sky Plus box. I will watch it over the next few days. In the company of Fudge, who is staying with us for a few days. It's our turn with him for the dog-share. he was waiting for me when I came home this evening. He's slowly getting the concept of "sit"; bless him.

The day's news boiled my piss. The Prime Minister has had a cabinet reshuffle. A phrase which (amazingly) seems meaningless to so many people. Effectively he's replaced the bosses of a sizeable proportion of the public sector's infrastructure. Which is his prerogative. But it's a daft thing to do. It takes anyone some time to get to grips with a job. With Ministers of State finally getting a handle on what they are supposed to be doing, is swapping them all about a good thing to do?

Personally I don't like the idea of appointing a new Secretary for Health. There have been so many changes in the NHS over the last fifty years that all the NHS can now well do is to implement new policy. And as soon as that new policy is implemented, abandon it for something else. Surely the NHS only needs one set of meaningless paperwork that it can fiddle about with in the background whilst it gets on with the business of providing healthcare.

And the same can be said for schools, universities and the armed forces too...

5 September 2012 (Wednesday) - A Walk

Up perhaps earlier than I might have been, and over a spot of brekkie I tried to do some on-line surveys. I get cross with these surveys. For all that it can be easy money, it can be frustrating to waste ten minutes before being told I'm not the kind of guy they want.

I then wandered into town to pay some cash into the astro club;s account. No one told me that the bank opens half an hour later on Wednesdays. So with a spare half hour I thought I'd go look for the latest geocache in town. It was in one of the parks, mid way between the drunken tramp (who'd just pissed himself) and the young couple having al-fresco sex. What a delightful park we have. I went back to the bank and queued up.

I did my banking and popped round to Matt to talk about geocompasses and multi-caches. Matt suggested we tried out his geocompass on the cache I'd just given up with. Fortunately the tramp had by now woken up and was fighting with himself at the other end of the park, and the young couple had both sated their base urges. We (Matt) found the cache, and we said our goodbyes and went our ways. Me - I had catalogues to deliver to the masses. And I also had the Bat as an assistant.

With catalogues delivered we went home, collected Fudge, and went on a bit of a geo-stroll. We put out another new cache, and found half a dozen caches. There was one we didn't find. Interestingly the last chap to find this one seems to have a history of not being able to put caches back where they came from judging by several other local cache reports. I shall have words.

Whilst we were out we found a footpath from South Willesborough to Park Farm. For those of my loyal readers who are unfamiliar with the area, this footpath is a God-send to me; going under the bypass it effectively it opens up the entire east of Ashford for walks into the countryside.

Home to find the postie had delivered two trackables. One has been sent on his way. One will go in a day or so. They both have their own blogs which will appear in the blog-roll to the right when there is anything worthy of note...

6 September 2012 (Thursday) - Broken Pants

My legs were a bit sore this morning. I really must stop going for extended walks through brambles wearing flimsy plimsolls and shorts and then wondering why my legs get ripped to shreds and my feet are sore. There's no denying that since I got involved with this geocaching lark, hardly a day has gone by when I've not got jiggy with a stinging nettle.

Mind you I was pleased with yesterday's excursion; even if I did get somewhat injured. I was very happy to have found a path under the A2070, and mentally I've been thinking up all sorts of walks into Aldington, Mersham and Sevington. I called up the on-line ordnance survey maps this morning to plan some routes and was frankly amazed to find that this path I'd found yesterday wasn't marked on the map. The path I followed from Willesborough to yesterday's geocaching failure (through the brambles) was clearly marked on the map, but the three metre wide bridleway we then followed wasn't. Odd! I wonder how old the map is, or I wonder if what looks like a right of way isn't what it appears to be. Still, I can get across the dual carriageway safely and legally, which is the main thing.

And then my piss boiled. A couple of weeks ago I put out a geocache and had it turned down by a moderator because the description I'd written contained a link to my blog. He was worried that my blog might have links to websites which might contain advertising. So I removed the link to my blog, only to then find a myriad of other caches all of which were carrying blatant advertising.

Yesterday I put out a new geocache and spent quite a bit of time getting it all done. Today the thing was turned down in its entirety because it was too close to a nursery school. Despite there being a cache going live in the last month which is actually stuck to the railings of a (different) nursery school.

I don't mind being told that I've made a mistake in my placement. I do mind the fact that it's clearly one rule for some and a different rule for others.

My piss also boiled at the day's news. Not content with completely throwing away all their pre-election promises, the dribbling democraps are seemingly now in talks with the Labour party. Their plan - to desperately cling to power after the next general election by abandoning their con-servative partners and throwing their lot in with the Labour party in another coalition. What must the Prime Minister be thinking of his so-called allies?

Mind you, if the electorate takes the trouble to remember their conduct immediately after the last general election, the dribbling democraps share of the vote will be slightly less than that of the Monster Raving Looney party, and so these talks will prove to be ultimately futile.

And so home via the petrol station. That stuff isn't as cheap as once it was. And whllst all of this happened I had a rather uncomfortable time. The elastic in my undercrackers had given out rather early in the day, and I spent a large part of today hoiking the things up. I wonder if, in this new world order of austerity, my budget will stretch to some new pants...

7 September 2012 (Friday) - More Geocaching

Up with the lark, breakfasted, and on to eBay. They were selling job lots of undercrackers at bargain basement prices. What with one thing and another I was still in my jim-jams went Hosey arrived. I got dressed and we set off for a quick morning’s geocaching. No surprises there (!) Lisa had put some caches out, and was saying that they were intentionally rather tricky.

The first one was near Singleton Lake. I think. I’m pretty sure I was within spitting distance of the thing, but no joy. The trees overhead did upset the GPS signal, but after twenty minutes we had to give up. But we did two other caches in the vicinity just because we could.

The next one was up near where my beloved works. The clue had us foxed and we drew a blank on that one as well. But whilst in the area we had a go for Lisa’s puzzle cache. It’s on the geocaching site as “Hooked on Caching”, and we found it. But with a puzzle cache, finding it is easy. Solving the puzzle is the tricky bit. And, without giving the game away, we solved the puzzle. We felt very pleased with ourselves as we walked back to the Hosey-mobile.

We popped into town to have a look in the 99p store, and then came home. Via two more geocaches.

Hosey had to go home, so I had a spot of lunch and took the furry one for a walk. Out through Newtown, through some new footpaths, down Hythe Road and home past the railway. An hour and a half’s walk. Fudge seemed to like it. I quite liked it; even though it was a hot day. On the way I planted two more geocaches. And now that these two have been accepted my “Badger’s Cache” series is complete.

When we went out I had good intentions to mow the lawn and iron shirts on our return. When we came home I had a cuppa and mucked about on silly games for far too long until "er indoors ^TM" came home. We drove down the road to collect Lisa and Earle and spent a pleasant evening wandering here, there and thither. Guess what we were doing. Mind you, the sunset was spectacular....

8 September 2012 (Sunday) - Family Reunion

I had to make an unexpected excursion last night. My account with geocaching dot com is the cheapo-freebie one. If you pay them good money, the nice people at geocaching dot com will email you when new caches go live. And those with nothing better to do with their lives rush out of the house at all hours to be the first to find the new caches. Being FTF is a serious matter for some. One bloke in particular seems to be obsessed with the idea, having been FTF on most of my caches.

One of my caches went live late yesterday evening and this fellow posted last night that he couldn't find it. He's an experience cacher with over a thousand finds to his name and when he suggested that the normal people had found it and taken it I thought I'd better go have a look-see. So at 10pm I was acting very suspiciously by the bypass.

The cache was where I'd left it. I re-checked my GPS co-ordinated. It was odd. The actual co-ordinates were out by eight metres, but the GPS on my phone took me right to it. And from the hint I'd given he should have found it easily. Oh well. Others have now found it, which is the main thing.

I was up with the lark this morning. I can't sleep knowing that Fudge is downstairs and that he might be bored or lonely. So I went down and in doing so I woke him up: I could have slept longer.

I had the weekly weigh-in. The few pounds that went on over the summers camping are coming off. Too much beer, cheese and port I expect. And with no more ado we set off to the pub.

Today was the family reunion. "er indoors ^TM" had organised the bash this year. Bearing in mind the good experiences we'd had at the Park Gate Hotel in the past, and also bearing in mind the place's location we felt

that it would make the ideal venue.

If nothing else today served as an example of how fast pubs can change. With sour ale and a two hour wait for rather small portions of frankly average food (mine was dry bordering on burnt) I felt embarrassed to have suggested we used the place. We complained about the wait and was politely told that the problem was we ordered after other people; the implication being that if you order after mid-day you expect to wait for two hours. Still, it was good to catch up with the family; even if there was a rather disappointing turn-out. In the past there have been over fifty people along; today there were less than thirty.

Whilst in the area we did a couple of easy geocaches (it would be rude not to), and then we came home. We got home a lot later than expected (due to the delays at the pub), and by the time we'd collected catalogues from the masses it was rather late. Feeling rather worn out we turned down a couple of offers, and once I'd got the banana beer out of the bucket and into the barre we slobbed in front of the telly. Doctor Who was on. As a child I really liked that program. Now it's (at best) rather crap...

9 September 2012 (Sunday) - Challock Goose Fair

I was up at seven o'clock on a Sunday morning. What's that all about? It was a shame to wake Fudge this morning, but to get to the loo I had no alternative but to go past his bed. He looked as tired as I felt. Whilst I had a spot of brekkie he continued chewing the plastic bottle he started destroying last night. It's odd, but he seems to know what he can chew and what he can't.

I spent a few minutes doing on-line surveys. I do get angry with them in that more and more these days they wait until you've done half the survey before they tell up that you aren't the sort of person that they want.

I then thought I'd sit outside to wait for my lift. Whilst waiting I got chatting with a fellow geocacher until Steve and Sarah arrived, and then it was off to Challock where the astro club was running a stall at the goose fair. I was running the solar scope, and was extolling the virtues of the sun (solar flares, prominences, sunspots) as opposed to the moon (dull rocks and Wensleydale). It was a perfect day for having the solar scope out; marred only by my lifting a small child to help her see the sun only to find my hands left sticky for the rest of the day. I'm not sure what that child had been up to, but she was certainly on the adhesive side.

I then went for a tiddle, and walked in to the loos to find a chap standing at the urinal with his trousers and pants round his ankles as he tiddled; in a manner not unlike how "My Boy ^TM" used to tiddle when he was three years ago.

But (toilet antics excepted) we had a good day talking astro stuff with the normal people. Photos of the day are on-line as always.

And so home. After a quick bit of tea "er indoors ^TM" set off bowling. I took Fudge for a short stroll to collect catalogues from the masses. On the way home I did a crafty multi-cache. Fudge did a crafty poo. I had to clear up both. Fudge got the best of the deal...

10 September 2012 (Monday) - New Pants

I was hoping to have a lie-in this morning but the local cats were pulling faces at Fudge through the kitchen window at 7am, which started him woofing. So I got up and made a start on laundry. Dull, but it needed doing. Whilst the laundry cooked I brekkied, and did an on-line survey. It was a noisy brekkie - Fudge doesn't destroy plastic pop bottles quietly.

With brekkie scoffed I spent a little while in the garden gathering dung and mowing the lawn. And with the garden tidied I made a start tidying up some of my bits and bobs. I found an entire bag of Koi food I had no idea that I had. That was a result. And then the doorbell rang. The undercrackers I ordered from eBay had arrived. So I thought I'd try a pair out. They are a tad snug, but they will do. It turns out that they are Calvin Klein, so I suspect that the first fruit of my loin might try to make off with them.

Steve arrived, and we set off to take Fudge for a walk. Through Willesborough to Sevington, and then past Quest and Batchelors and home via the rugby club. A round trip of four hours and about ten miles. And eight geocaches on the way. There was a dodgy five minutes when Fudge gave one of the geocaches an experimental chew. He didn't actually eat it, but I'm not sure that the intention wasn't there.

Home; where I was expecting Fudge to be rather tired after his extensive walk. He didn't sleep. Instead he continued destroying plastic pop bottles. He seems to like doing that. I wish he would do it quietly. He might not be tired after the walk but I certainly am...

11 September 2012 (Tuesday) - Stuff

I was rather tired yesterday evening so had an early night. Fudge had been sleeping until I put him in his basket. He didn't think it was bed time. In the next half hour I came downstairs six times to tell him to stop shouting.

Despite being so tired last night I didn't sleep well, waking for the last time at 4.15am. I lay awake for an hour before going downstairs. Fudge woke as he heard me, and he sat with me as I brekkied. He's not a bad pup really, even if he won't go to bed when told. It was a shame I couldn't be home today as he had another trip to the vet's as a prelude to his forthcoming knackersectomy. Consequently I spent much of the day fretting about the pestilential pup. I'm reliably informed that he spent much of the day with his Auntie Kat and Sid. Hopefully some of Sid's training will have rubbed off onto Fudge. He's getting better with his training, but still has a little way to go.

The news of the day was somewhat trivial. I suppose that after finding out that a dead seal had been found only a mile from my house all else tends to pale into insignificance. Mind you our old friend science has been having a go. Science was predicting that life might be far more widespread across the universe than it once thought as liquid water might exist in far more places than previous theories had thought. But for all that this news is exciting, it's still all very theoretical.

Science also published a list of the one hundred most endangered species. As well as big beasts like sloths, birds and antelopes it would seem that certain plants and fungi are on the way out too. This bit of news was imparted as a matter of fact - there was no speculation as to whether this was an effect of human activity. It probably is; but species have died off in the past. And it's difficult to stir the same feelings one has about extinctions of tigers for the demise of a fungus.

And so home. Usually on a Tuesday I would gather with the clans. But tonight's gathering was in Folkestone and by the time I'd got there it would have made everyone else too late, so I came home, had a bit of tea and reminded myself why I don't do Internet forums any more. Last Thursday I ranted about a geocache moderator who turned down one of my caches because the description I'd written contained a link to my blog. He was worried that my blog might have links to websites which might contain advertising. So I removed that link to my blog, only to then find a myriad of other caches all of which were carrying blatant advertising. And then I put out a new geocache only to have it turned down in its entirety because it was too close to a nursery school. Despite there being a cache going live in the last month which is actually stuck to the railings of a (different) nursery school that this fellow had approved.

I've since heard of this same moderator turning down caches purely because they are in the Ashford Green Belt only to allow other caches placed in the same green belt. And he's turned down some caches because they bear the name of the business near which they are hidden, and allowed others which do the same. This chap is clearly inconsistent in applying the rules.

I whinged about this on one of the Internet geocaching boards. Some twit who clearly hadn't read what was written suggested that if I don't like the rules I shouldn't play the game.

I don't do Internet forums any more...

12 September 2012 (Wednesday) - Facultative Parthenogenesis

I woke far too early as usual, and lay tossing and turning for a couple of hours. I wasn't feeling in top form as I got up; I had a sore throat and a nagging headache which dragged on through the day. Over a spot of brekkie I imparted my sage wisdom to an on-line survey and then set off to work; taking a half-mile detour on the way to do a crafty geocache.

If ever any of my loyal readers find themselves in Chartham and fancy a quick cache, there's one near the pub. You can't miss it; it was rather obvious when you know what to look for. In fact it was staringly obvious and I can't see how the normal people haven't long since interfered with it.

And that's now pretty much all the caches on my route to work found. There are one or two more which are a mile or two into the surrounding woodlands, but they aren't really ones to do on the way to work. Which is a shame. Mind you if I take a detour or two then there are more to be found. If only petrol was cheaper...

Regular readers of this drivel might notice the occasional advertisement appearing between blog entries from time to time. In this new world order of austerity I've advertised my services as a freelance writer and every so often I get asked to plug a business.. I write a hundred words about the client, include a few links, and I get a modest bung for my efforts. If nothing else it pays for the new pants.

This morning I turned down once such commission. Call me puritanical if you will, but I'm not going to advertise www.nudeyladiesdoingrudethings.com I might be skint, but I can still (just about) afford something of a moral stance.

And our old friend science is also taking a moral stance. It would seem that the animal kingdom is seeing a rise in the amount of facultative parthenogenesis that is going on. For the less biological amongst my loyal readers, facultative parthenogenesis is having babies without the pre-requisite nudey prod sauce romp games.

However so-called expert opinion is undecided as to whether facultative parthenogenesis is a good thing or not. Time will tell; it usually does.

13 September 2012 (Thursday) - Romney Marsh

I woke at 3am bursting for a tiddle; but did not dare go for fear of disturbing the pup. After a couple of hours I could hold it no more, so went downstairs to do my thing; expecting to then have a dog who was raring to go. Fudge was fast asleep, and didn't stir at all.

Back to bed for a couple of hours, then after a bit of brekkie I distributed catalogues of bargains to the masses. Whilst I was at it I nearly got run over twice. Why don't cyclists use the road? Why do they go up pavements? All the serious injuries to cyclists I've heard of have happened when cyclists are on pavements.

Home to collect the pestilential pup; and we went for a short stroll. Over the last few weeks I've put out five geocaches along an easy route for me to walk the dog along, so I thought I'd check up to see if the caches were OK. It was as well that I did. One had been left in the open air by the last finder. The chap had made no effort to hide the thing. And one was entirely missing. It was as well I'd brought along a replacement cache just in case.

Back home again to whinge to the world via Facebook about my trashed caches, and then to waste an hour doing the ironing. A tedious job, but one that needed doing.

Steve cane round, and then once we'd collected Earle we went on a drive down to the Romney Marsh. Dymchurch, Snargate, New Romney, Snave. Ice creams on the beach. We had a really good afternoon, and did twenty geocaches and three geo-challenges whilst we were at it. Today I found my two hundredth geocache. I took Fudge with us. There's no denying I was dubious about taking him, but I was glad that I did. He seemed to like the outing, and he was as good as gold.

It was amazing how quickly the afternoon went. All too soon it was getting cold as the sun was setting, and it was time to go home.

A quick cuppa and we said our goodbyes. And just as we finished out tea the doorbell rang. Some of the younger members of the astro club had found the geocache in my garden and thought they'd say hello whilst they were passing. It was good to see them, and good to know I'd made more converts...

14 September 2012 (Friday) - This and That

I woke this morning and I wasn't feeling much like getting up. Having had an excellent day yesterday, and with plans for the weekend, today looked like being rather dull in comparison. And I was rather sulking about what might have been. There had been talk of driving down to Sussex today; mucking about in Brighton and then taking a late ferry to spend time at Dieppe kite festival. What with one thing and another this never happened. Which was a shame.

I also sulked about a possible (probable) waste of my money. Regular readers of this drivel may recall that a couple of years ago a group of us formed a syndicate which had secured exclusive fishing rights to a small local pond. A couple of years ago I fished that pond very regularly. Last year I fished it half a dozen times. This fishing season I've been once in three months. And realistically I doubt if I'll go again this year.

That was twenty quid that I can ill afford straight down the toilet.

I left for work a few minutes earlier than I might have done this morning: my beloved had put out a geocache of her own yesterday and I wanted to find it. It was a nice little cache in a very pretty place. Between the willow tree and the bullrushes in fact. As I drove to work I nearly ran over countless children; all of which were oblivious to the world around them, with their i-players firmly wedged into their ears, and all of which were randomly bumbling about the roads with no care for oncoming traffic. And at a time when they should really have been at school.

My piss boiled as I heard the day's news. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have got the hump because a French newspaper has obtained topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge. Surely they should have learned from the countless examples over the last twenty-odd years. Being the heirs to the throne they will have cameras on them constantly. And so was flopping out the royal jubblies a sensible thing to do? I can see that they might feel that being photographed whilst on holiday was an invasion of their privacy, and legally it might well have been. But practically they will live their lives in a goldfish bowl, and they really shouldn't do things like that which only encourage the gutter press.

15 September 2012 (Saturday) - The Knight's Quest

Up, and after a quick bit of brekkie Lisa and Earle were on the doorstep. We got into the car and set off to Deal. The plan for the day was a geocaching quest. Something like Dungeons and Dragons or NeverWinter Nights, but in real life. We met up with six other members of the Kent Geocaching Facebook group and set off. I'd been looking forward to the event, but must admit to having been a bit wary of who else might be coming with us. But I had no need to have been concerned. All of our fellow questers were likeable types and were good company. Not a "normal person" was in sight.

The idea for the quest was that we would be given a location to find a geocache in which was a clue, a question and a choice of where to go next. At the next point we would find another clue, another question and another choice of where to go next. Sometimes we would have challenges on the way. At one point we had a run-in with an executioner, and at another point we got mugged for our amulet of health. I contributed to the team's efforts by answering the riddle "What is greater than god, worse than the devil. the rich don't want it, the poor have it, and if you eat it you will die". The only fly in the ointment was that one of the GPS positions we were given was wrong. After an hour;s searching and ten of us finding nothing we eventually contacted the chap who'd set the quest only to find that our position was wrong by about thirty yards.

The instructions said that if we made the right choices we'd walk three miles; if we chose poorly we'd walk eight. Those who know how to use their GPS equipment better than me assured me we walked just under ten miles. But eventually (after six and a half hours) we got to the final cache and solved the quest.

It was a really good fun day out in the sunshine; having fun playing a silly game, meeting new friends. Really must do it again. There's photos of the day here

We slowly made our way back to the cars, said our goodbyes, and seeing how we were only half a mile from the sea front we drove down for a quick bit of fish and chips. And with some power left in the smartphones and a couple of hours of daylight left we thought we'd check out Walmer for geocaches. We found a dozen...