Unfortunately we didn’t plan our trip quite wisely enough, and this – the sixth cache of the day for fleeblewidget and I – involved us crossing over the A4074 for a third and then (when we left) a fourth
time for the day, which did take quite some time as we had to wait for breaks in the traffic which were few and far between. But the reward was worth it: this cache is one of the
cleverest I’ve ever seen.
fleeblewidget actually PICKED UP the cache to look under it before I realised that what she had in her hand was, actually, the cache! Watched a few helicopters taking off from and
landing at the nearby air force base as we waited for a gap in the traffic on our way back. Great cache, thanks!
Fifth cache of the day, and it was I who managed to home-in on this one fastest, leaving fleeblewidget on the path as I went straight for the cache. Only one-star difficulty? Wow: you take
things seriously around here. No goats in the field today, but plenty of bunny rabbits.
Fourth cache in today’s expedition. Great container, and it took a few minutes before fleeblewidget and I spotted it! Picked up Mick’s Pirhana travel bug and dropped off the “code” travel
bug (a long way from home, now!). Met a friendly donkey just a little further South along the path who ran alongside the fence to come and greet us and said goodbye with big, sad eyes.
Cache was a little damp so I added a couple of silica gel sachets to help keep it dry.
Third cache in today’s expedition. The trees and fence made the GPS signal spotty, but a quick walk up and down a few times got us a good fix on this beautiful little cache. I’ve never
found an ammo box cache before, so this is my first, and it was quite an experience: a whole trove of treasures! Took the Seattle Compass-Thermometer travel bug (but didn’t think to
take a temperature reading at the time, will try to remember to do so when I drop it off) and the Poker Events Geocoin (not listed as being in the box, listed as being with it’s
owner!), and left the Red Jeep Travel Bug.
Second of today’s expedition: again, I wouldn’t have found it without the help of fleeblewidget, who thought to look exactly where it turned out to be. A beautiful area, the last time
I was here was during last winter’s heavy snowfall, and it looks completely different when it’s under the bright skies of the beginning of spring. Great little cache, thanks!
First of today’s expedition, found with fleeblewidget. GPSr was playing up early this
afternoon and tried to send us about 15m away from the cache (and it’s usually ever so good), but fleeblewidget’s eyes were sharp and she found it pretty quickly anyway. TFTC.
On our walk past here, we worked out where the cache was, but didn’t have time to stop for a drink and so didn’t claim the cache. Peeped over the fence from outside to work out where it
probably was, though. Maybe another day!
Right now, I’m out in Oxfordshire for this a “code week” – a get-together for the purpose of hacking some code together – for the Three Rings project. That’s got nothing to do with this post, but helps to offer a framing device by which I can explain why I was in such
proximity to London in the first place.
JTA at the Ops Room table
Last night, y’see, Ruth and I hopped on the bus down to London to meet up with Robin, her brother, for his
21st birthday. Starting out at The Dove in Broadway Market, we began an adventure of epic proportions, backed up by some
of the least-consistent planning ever encountered in a pub crawl. At times, the revellers and I were as one unit, moving together through the capital, shouting “Dave!” in unison. Other
times, keeping the group together and headed in the same direction was a little like trying to herd cats.
But progress was made, and a milestone birthday was celebrated. Highlights included:
Pub Jenga
Pub Monopoly is so last week: Pub Jenga is the new hotness. At each bar, we brought out a set of Jenga, the bricks of which had each been emblazoned – using a marker pen – with
the names of diferent areas of London. When the tower collapsed, the brick responsible dictated where we would go to next.
Pub Jenga – The Next Big Thing
The person responsible for the destruction of the tower was required to drink a penalty shot of Jägermeister and be the bearer of the Jenga set and The Trowel until the next pub. Oh yeah, The Trowel. Robin’s plan was that, at
the end of the night, the Jenga set would be buried forever at a secret location. As we’d left before this point to catch the bus back to Oxford, I’ve no idea whether or not this
actually happened.
Another gripping turn of Pub Jenga
Mystery Pockets
Ruth and Robin’s older brother, Owen, had come prepared: having numbered each of his eight pockets and placed a mystery item in each, Robin was periodically charged with picking a
number, at which point the contents of the pocket were revealed and used. Some of the items revealed were:
Face Paints
One of the first Mystery Pockets contained red and green face paints, with inevitable results. Also, I’m not sure what was in them, but quite a lot of people at the table started
itching quite a lot after they were applied: whoops! Click the thumbnails for bigger pictures.
Party Poppers
After these were chosen, everybody managed to get ahead of Robin by sprinting down a tube station fire escape staircase, and hiding around the corner at the bottom. Which might have
been more effective if not for the fact that it’s quite hard to hide a dozen people in a tight stairwell. Also, that Robin had decided by this point to “fall” down the staircase.
Silly String!
Silly string! It’s so silly!
It’s silly. ‘Nuff said.
People Of London
Our travels put us into contact with a variety of people from around the city, like:
The Moon Man
In Covent Garden, we got a small audience as a result of our various exploits, but this one – persuading a random stranger to bare his colourful underwear to the world, might be the
best. In the background, you can just make out an unrelated group of partygoers, about to tie themselves together with a long rope left lying around by a street performer.
The Moon Man pulls his trousers down
Owen’s Fans
The two women at the next table from us in a bar in Oxford Circus, who seemed quite pleased and impressed when Owen tore his shirt in half in a show of manliness. I’m pretty sure that
if he’d have asked, they’d have paid to see more.
Jamaican Me Crazy
A busker with drums who we persuaded to play the most reggae interpretation of Happy Birthday To You that has ever been heard.
Lay down some beats! Dancing might have been involved on my part.
Dave!!!
I can’t even remember how, but it quickly became our callsign that – in order to make sure that everybody was together (at least, after we’d lost the enormous Papa-Smurf-penis-styled
balloon, fresh from Owen’s mystery pockets, that had previouly been our beacon), we’d all shout “Dave!!!”, as if we’d lost somebody by that name. No, I can’t explain it either.
But… where’s Dave? DAVE? DAVE!!!
A Cornish-Pasty Themed Pub
Seriously, such a thing exists. We almost gave this one a missing, mistaking it for merely being a late-night Cornish Pasty Shop (yes, that was more believable to us at this point),
before we noticed that it had a bouncer. “What kind of bakery needs security?” “Ohhhhh.”
I’m still amazed that we didn’t attract a larger audience than we did, playing Jenga in this famous spot for street entertainers.
Racing Around The Transport Network
You know all of those signs about not playing on the escalators, not running up the escalators: all that jazz. Apparently some of the group didn’t think that they applied to them, with
hilarious consequences. Honestly, I’ve never seen somebody slide all the way down the central reservation of a 100-foot escaltor before, “bouncing” over every sign and
emergency-stop-button as they rocketed down along the polished steel. And if I never do again, that’ll be fine, because I’ve seen it now.
Meeting Some Fabulous People
Turns out, everybody who came along to Robin’s birthday – most of whom I hadn’t previously met – were all awesome in their own unique ways. It’s been a long time since I’ve hung out in
the company of such a lively crowd. Thanks to you all for a fantastic night out.
Not too difficult! Found it between rounds at the nearby pub, The Dove, with fleeblewidget.
Lid of cache is damaged, may need replacing before next bad weather. TFTC.
Hadn’t fully read the description (whoops!) so we spent some time hunting around the sign for the cache. Got there in the end, right before our ride home arrived. Took a friend – his
first ever cache. Left a silica gel sachet to combat the growing moisture in the cache and dropped off a Geocoin. TFTC!
Thought the trees might throw off my GPSr, but actually ended up right on top of this cache. It looked undernourished, so I left a TB and a geocoin. TFTC!
