Dan Q found GC2CWQ7 #036 Just Northamptonshire

This checkin to GC2CWQ7 #036 Just Northamptonshire reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

As a semi-regular at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention who likes to get up earlier then the others I share my tent with, I’ve done my fair share of early morning geocaching in this neck of the woods.

Of course: over the years this practice has exhausted most of tree caches local to Cropredy and my morning walks have begun to take me further and further afield. But this is certainly the first time I’ve walked to the next county in search of a cache!

A doe and her fawn stand alert in a harvested grain field, alongside a tower of cuboid hay bales, in the light of a summer morning.

Coming across the fields from Williamscot via Prescote Farm treated me to gorgeous rolling hills free fields of freshly-harvested corn getting picked at by families of deer, while the red kites above went looking for their breakfasts.

The final hill up to the GZ required a bit of a push for my legs which were dancing until late last night, but soon I was close and the cache was quickly found in the second place I looked.

In front of a gate with a 'cattle crossing' sign, Dan waves to the camera with a hand whose wrist has a Cropredy 2025 wristband.

TFTC. Oxfordshire says hello!

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Dan Q found GCAJH34 Jonah’s Oak

This checkin to GCAJH34 Jonah's Oak reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

My little tribe and I have, in some form of another, been attending Cropredy for decades: intermittently in the past, but lately with more regularity every year. For me, it’s coincided with the growth of our family: I’ve been attending with my partner and her husband approximately since our eldest child, now 11, was born.

As our group’s early riser, I’ve a longstanding tradition of getting up while everybody else lies in, to take a walk and perhaps find a geocache or two. Of course I soon ran out of caches in Cropredy itself and my morning walks now take me much further afield!

Last year I was very ill and had to be sent home from Cropredy before I had the opportunity to log this cache, but I’m back again this year and taking a moment at the Oak to reflect on those we’ve all loved and lost.

Jonah's Oak; a large and well-kept oak tree in the middle of a hedgerow, with plaques on and around it, with festival workings in the background.

Answers to follow as soon as signal permits. TFTC.

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Dan Q found GC8Z1F6 Church Micro 13672…Great Bourton ⛪️

This checkin to GC8Z1F6 Church Micro 13672...Great Bourton ⛪️ reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

My family and I have made a tradition of our regular attendance of Fairport’s Cropredy Convention. There I – being the earliest riser of us – have in turn made a tradition of getting up early to find a nearby geocache on any morning that I’m up before the kids.

This practice has already eliminated all of the caches in Cropredy itself, and so now my morning walks take me further afield. This morning I opted to follow the footpath over the fields to Great Bourton to investigate the two multicaches commencing in the churchyard.


Having determined the coordinates for both and (unsuccessfully) attempting the other cache first, I was optimistic for a smiley face here. The GZ was easy to find – I’d stopped here to check my map on the way out! – and I was soon searching in earnest.

In the low-angled light of the morning sun, the shade of the thick leafy canopy made for challenging conditions, so I flicked my torch on and pointed it in the direction of the host object… and there, clear as day despite its camouflage, was the cache. Easy as pie! SL.

I was briefly tempted to re-try the cache I failed to find earlier, under the assumption that the container would look similar to this and the same technique might bear fruit. But I didn’t feel like doubling back twice more while my stomach was rumbling, so I carried on towards Cropredy to see whether any others if my party were yet ready for some grub.

TFTC.

Dan Q did not find GC91EH6 War Memorial #1,340 ~ Great Bourton 🌹

This checkin to GC91EH6 War Memorial #1,340 ~ Great Bourton 🌹 reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

My family and I have made a tradition of our regular attendance of Fairport’s Cropredy Convention. There I – being the earliest riser of us – have in turn made a tradition of getting up early to find a nearby geocache on any morning that I’m up before the kids.

This practice has already eliminated all of the caches in Cropredy itself, and so now my morning walks take me further afield. This morning I opted to follow the footpath over the fields to Great Bourton to investigate the two multicaches commencing in the churchyard.


Solving for both was easy enough, and I opted to seek this one first, given that the other could become part of my route back to my tent. As others have observed, finding the right footpath was slightly tricky: it looks a bit like a communal driveway, to begin with… and then, for the moment at least, looks as though it might become a building site!

But I pressed on towards the target coordinates and soon spotted a likely host. I searched for a bit without luck, then hit up the hint: looks like I need to go deeper, I figured, and pushed into the foliage.

But after 20 minutes or so of searching all around the conceivable spots, I was still struggling. Plus I’d narrowly avoided kneeling in something truly gross and couldn’t face another round of crawling about under a hedge. And further, I realised I’d soon need some breakfast so I gave up on this one and made a move for the second. Maybe another year!

Dan Q found GC8DQ39 FYI 292 – The Battle of Cropredy Bridge

This checkin to GC8DQ39 FYI 292 - The Battle of Cropredy Bridge reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Surprisingly easy find! I got up earlier than most of the festival campers this morning to do the canalside series and then, figuring I had time, decided to tackle this multi too. Little did I know I’d end up retracing my steps to find this one – I’d passed the final coordinates twice this morning already!

At the GZ I first thought I’d have no chance – that the cache would be too well-concealed among the foliage. But despite the container’s camo I caught sight of it almost instantly. Easy peasy! TFTC.

Dan Q couldn’t find GC8Z1EE Church Micro 13671…Cropredy ⛪️

This checkin to GC8Z1EE Church Micro 13671...Cropredy ⛪️ reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Think the bench must be inside the marquee pictured, based on the coordinates. I got my festival breakfast in the yesterday but didn’t think to look for the bench – whoops! All sealed up this morning as the festival campers have a post-party lie in and Cropredy life begins to pivot back towards normal. Never mind!

An enclosed tempory gazebo with a tentlike covering, at the foot of a stone church tower.

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Dan Q found GC9GK2V Mr Impossible

This checkin to GC9GK2V Mr Impossible reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Finding the cache while avoiding strange looks from the boaters using the lock was relatively easy: I just sat down and did some stretches to give me an excuse to peep into the likely hiding places. Retrieving it while in stealth mode was harder, but luckily I’m wearing laced shoes. TFTC!

Dan Q found GC9GK2J Little Miss Whoops

This checkin to GC9GK2J Little Miss Whoops reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

My, that’s deviously tiny and tightly fits its hiding place! Glad I was out here without the thronging mob of festival footfall or I’d have looked a right wally searching for it. Wouldn’t have stood a chance without the hint! Greeted ducks as instructed. TFTC!

A family of ducks drift along a canal in the early morning light.

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Dan Q found GC9GGK7 Little Miss Sunshine

This checkin to GC9GGK7 Little Miss Sunshine reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Like other recent finders, I’m here for the festival. Unlike some of them, though, I’ve had the foresight to come out shortly after dawn after the last night of music to be able to walk and cache without the crowds!

An easy find – I almost stood on tree cache while reaching deeper than I needed to into my first assumption about its hiding place! Love finding proper-sized caches in sensible hiding places like this: not those endless micro-in-a-hedge affairs you sometimes see. TFTC!

Dan Q found GC9H105 Mr Nonsense

This checkin to GC9H105 Mr Nonsense reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

While free rest of the festival nursed their hangovers or simply enjoyed a much-needed lie-in after staying up late singing “Meet on the Ledge”, I got up early and came out for a walk. And, I figured, given the relative quiet of the canalside for the first time in a few days, an opportunity to find a geocache or two.

Comong among the road from the East – where I’ve camped – at first I was stumped as to where this could be hidden. As soon as I changed to a different path I immediately worked out where to look. TFTC!

Dan, wearing a rainbow-striped bandan, waves to the camera from a rural canal towpath.

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Dumping for Dummies

This is a reply to a post published elsewhere. Its content might be duplicated as a traditional comment at the original source.

Ruth wrote:

Wow, it’s been nearly a month since I put finger to key for the sake of this old thing. In case anyone’s wondering, I was feeling hurt and a bit isolated due to the total lack of concern you all showed when I had my first taste of bereavement (with the notable exception of Bryn). I’m over it now though, so no hard feelings, huh?

Anyway, the very briefest of updates: Back from the Cropredy festival, tired, sunburnt and quite ill, but the music was fab and the company fabber. It was especially good to see Bryn and Heather again.

And so to the reason for breaking my silence. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the best way to dump someone. Obviously, ending a relationship is often going to be pretty hard on the other person, but I think there must be some ways of doing so which are more considerate than others. Here’s an example of a way which seems a bit bastardy:

A young couple have been together for just shy of two years. For reasons which we will assume to be sound, the girl decides to end it. She calls her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend and tells him “I don’t know if I love you as a boyfriend or as a person”. He tells her to cut the crap and just dump him if that’s what she’s going to do. She gets pissed off and hangs up. The next day, he logs in to facebook to update their relationship status, and discovers a message from a friend on her wall which says “Congrats! You and [guy she met on a latin course] were meant to be!”. He calls her and tells her he wishes they’d never gone out, then goes to a club with his cousin, gets drunk, causes a nuisance and gets beaten to a bloody pulp by four bouncers. He goes home, calls his sister in tears to say he thinks he must be cursed and his life is worthless, and falls asleep, bleeding, miserable and alone.

This, I think, would be a prime example in the how-not-to-do-it column, even if the dumpee in question wasn’t my little brother. It’s left me wondering if there is a way to do it that’s just a bit less selfish?

I haven’t often been involved in dumping scenarios, most of my relationships having fizzled out without the need for The Talk, and hopefully I’ll never have to get good at them. However, from my inexperienced position, it seems to me that the onus ought to be on the dumper to try and be honest, in so far as this is necessary to prevent the dumpee from making the same mistakes again, and to be as unhurtful as possible. They also ought to resist the urge to use bullshit lines, even if there is some truth in them. Cliches may be cliches for a reason, but you could at least do the person you’re telling isn’t good enough the courtesy of saying so in your own words. Finally, I think the dumpee needs to be willing to take it. Dumping isn’t – or shouldn’t be – easy, so if someone has taken the plunge, chances are that the decision isn’t up for discussion.

It seems to me that this is an area which is woefully under-represented in traditional etiquette. Given how many relationships end in one or both parties deciding to move on, perhaps it’s time that ‘Good Manners’ came to include how to tell someone to get lost in a polite way?

Part The Widget

Sorry I wasn’t able to offer you any support after your last post and during your bereavement. I’m disappointed in others for not helping, of course, but I’m more disappointed in myself. I hope you got the emotional assistance you needed.

Genuinely really sorry. Could post excuses, but I’m sure they’re not very good ones, so shan’t bother.

Part The Brother

In the cases where my relationships haven’t just “fizzled out,” I’ve more often been the dumpee than the dumper – in fact, I’ve only been on the “giving” end of a break-up once. In my experience at least, it’s harder to be the initiator of a break-up than to be dumped, although that’s possibly more to do with the circumstances than anything else (in the case where I was the dumper, I cared more about my partner than at any time that I was the dumpee).

In any case; at that time, I – like your brother’s ex- – lied. Not so well as she did: I explained that I was leaving her for somebody else (Claire), but I didn’t at that point expose that I’d been cheating on her. Why? Because I’d already upset her (and me) and I didn’t want to upset her further or risk sounding like I was gloating (“hey, and look what I got away with!”). Instead, I planned to talk to her about that later (which went a bit shitty for other reasons, but that’s beside the scope of the story).

The bottom line is that, in my opinion, your brother’s ex- was unethical, but I can possibly see why she chose to do it the way that she did. I’d hope that in her position I’d do better (in fact, I’m pretty sure I would – I’ve learned a lot about relationships in the last five-and-a-half years). Moreover – in my mind – it’s not her fault that he got drunk and beaten up; that’s a detail that (while sad and upsetting) doesn’t actually change the moral validity (or, rather, invalidity) of her actions.

Still, I do feel sorry for your brother. I hope he’s getting by.

Part The Ways

Perhaps you’re right about relationships and etiquette, but it’s hard to say for certain. Every relationship is unique, and – even during the break-up – what is right for one is not necessarily right for another. It’s impossible to lay down a rule that says “when you break up with somebody, tell them exactly why and how long you’ve felt that way” because in the end there are relationships that will end better (cleaner break, happier parties, better ethics) if they are done in a different way (drift apart, white lie, outright lie, whatever). Unfortunately, at the point of the break-up the dumping party may well not care so much as they might once have what’s best for *both* parties, and may well be thinking more selfishly (“how do *I* want to feel out of this break up?”). And sadly, unethical as this may be, it’s their right to feel however they want, and it’s hard to tell them that they can’t…

…it’s a big emotional minefield.

I’d like to think that if Claire and I were to split up, we’d make a good job of it. We’ve laid the groundwork, and talked about it, and we’re pretty good at talking about the status of our relationship with one another anyway. Moreover, we’ve got a healthy grip on the frequently-transitory nature of romantic relationships, and – while it sounds a little pessimistic – we find it’s a great way of keeping things in perspective. Of course, it’s impossible to say. Time – perhaps – will tell.

Ultimately, I’d just like to see people communicate better with their partners: feeling capable to talk about how they feel and able to be honest about what they think. It *should* be okay to say “I love somebody else more than you. How do you feel about that?” It *should* be okay to say “I’m only with you for the sex. But the sex is good.” It *should* be okay to say “I’d like to spend more time alone, but I’m not ready to commit to breaking up.” And it should be okay to say “No, that doesn’t work for me. Can we find a compromise? Or shall we call it a day?”

[sighs]

I’ll fix the world some other day. Far too much going on right now. If you want to debate any of this, drop me an e-mail or call me (haven’t heard your voice in too long anyway).

Love and hugs.