Well Done..Cheerio and All That....
The technology section of The Manchester Evening News in the UK has a well written piece on the reports first foray into the world of geocaching. The following is from their website.
I START my geocaching career with a sophisticated GPS device in one hand - and a good old-fashioned A to Z in the other `just in case'.
Straight away I have problems - there's no satellite signal because of the buildings so the gizmo bleeps and flashes but does little else.
I punch in the co-ordinates again, get a reading and follow the tiny arrow on screen. I'm making good progress but concentrate too much on every twitch and change in direction and too little on speeding cars and lorries.
Is it me or does the reporter look like Austin Powers?
Then, in the shadow of a church and staring at a giant sculpture of an acorn, the gizmo tells me I've arrived. The hard part starts now. The point of the game is that geocaches need to be small and hard to find.
I was hoping for a giant box with a flashing neon arrow suspended above it but, then, there would be no fun in that. Because fun is what I'm having scrabbling around on the ground. I'll admit to cheating slightly by having looked for clues on the geocaching website, so I have a decent idea where to look. Except, when I look, there's nothing there but half bricks and crisp packets.
The photographer quickly gets frustrated by my useless attempts . . . so we both end up on all fours, squatting in the grime. I almost faint with pride when I spot something with no earthly business being stashed under a bench in Manchester. I check that no muggles are about and grab my prize.
The cache is wrapped in black tape which I unwrap like a child at Christmas.
Inside the tiny container is a scrawny piece of paper which reads: "Well done".
Just a tad underwhelmed, I scribble my geocache username and put it back where I found it.
"My first attempt has been a success. And it's only on the way back to the office I realise what I really am . . . late for work and wearing dirty trousers.
