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ryme-intrinseca

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Posts posted by ryme-intrinseca

  1. Thanks everyone for your help.

     

    I'd like to point out that this can be pretty annoying for paper cachers as they are generally forced to print the image and often end up with an extra sheet of paper, not to mention it's environmentally unfriendly. :lol:

    I'm paperless, but I avoid doing it.

     

    SidAndBob - you would not need to take the image with you, it will be required to work out the puzzle at home, but that's all. I have also considered dial-up users (of which I was one until last month), and the file size will be small.

     

    :laughing: I'm talking about this new cache so much today that you'll all expect it to be spectacular when it's finally published! :lol:

  2. Ooh, thank you for all the replies. Sorry I haven't been able to respond until now - I've been out shopping for my new cache (WH Smith - lock boxes, buy one get one half price if anyone's interested!)! :(

     

    After reading through the comments above, I am still undecided on what to do. drsolly - I agree that disabilities are on a 'scale' rather than 'on' or 'off' and that mobility difficulties are not the only disability (I am seven stone overweight, therefore 'morbidly obese' - under some definitions I am disabled, but that's just a label isn't it?).

     

    Nevertheless in some circumstances there has to be some kind of 'cut-off point'. I assess University students for the Disabled Students Allowance and in order to access the funding (which can be upwards of £10,000 per annum for study support), a student has to 'prove' to their local council that they are disabled. I'm not saying that this is right or ideal, but how else would the council be able to control funding?

     

    Anyway - I think this is all a bit serious for Geocaching, which after all is supposed to be a game. I'm starting to stray off topic, so where was I...?

     

    As I said in my first post, I think everyone should think about inclusion where possible. No, this should not restrict the placement of caches, the area that I want to place it has a stunning view and I want to share it with as many people as I can. But here I have an opportunity to make this cache accessible in one way or another to all. So - should I do it, or will it offend? It's hard to know, to be honest! Even though I have worked in the Disability field for years, what is 'right' and 'wrong' still feels like a minefield to me.

     

    I'm not too worried about the 'loophole' business - if a non-wheelchair user wants to claim they can't physically access the cache, but wants to log it anyway, then that's on their conscience as far as I'm concerned. :lol::lol::laughing:

     

    Edited to add: sorry, I also forgot to say, I certainly wouldn't want people to differentiate in their logs whether they had physically visited the cache or emailed me. It's up to the individual what they choose to write.

  3. From what I've seen, the UK side of Geocaching - gc.com, geocache uk, etc., are becoming much more aware that there are many people with disabilities involved in the 'sport' - for instance, when I have placed 1 star terrain caches recently, I have routinely had an email asking if it is wheelchair accessible. Whilst I don't think it's practical to make all caches accessible, I do think that we should be inclusive where we can (does that make sense? I've only just woken up, I can't think in sentences yet! :unsure: ).

     

    I am planning to place a new cache this weekend, which will be terrain 3.5 or 4, and would definitely not be suitable for people with mobility difficulties. It is a puzzle cache, and I had the idea that I could put a note on the page to say that if anyone with a disability could not physically find the cache, if they could solve the puzzle and email me the location, they would be welcome to log it as a 'find'.

     

    Before I do this though, I have three major concerns:

     

    1. Would this be making things worse - would it be seen as patronising, and singling out people with disabilities? Would it be best to just state that the cache is not wheelchair accessible and leave it at that?

     

    2. Are the people who have to walk to find the cache going to be mad because they feel they have to put more effort in, or something? Will they abuse the 'loophole' above - obviously this could only be done on trust?

     

    3. Am I thinking about this too much? Should I just go ahead and place the cache and shut up about it?

     

    There we are - let's see how many people I've managed to offend already... :blink:

  4. I love finding coins, but I understand your reluctance to release them - I feel the same.

     

    I recall finding a black and white, creased A4 photocopy of a coin once. As we had visited the cache especially to retrieve the coin, and as there was no mention of this on the coin's page, I was not impressed. :sad:

     

    On another occasion, I found a nicely laminated, double-sided lifesize photo, and although that wasn't quite as good as finding an actual coin, I was still pleased, and I got my icon! ;)

     

    As long as a tag is attached to them to make it obvious what it is, I don't see a major problem with this. If you don't attach a tag though, it will probably just get lost amongst the calling cards at the bottom of the cache.

  5. Funny how some people interpret sharing a coin for all to discover as an invitation to nab it for good and not logging in the cache or online This has just made my day :o

     

    I sympathise - I don't know how people could do that, it's not like they can show them off to other cachrs or log them. I love finding coins in caches, but after having a couple of TBs go missing, I have to admit I'm hesitant about releasing any of mine. :blink:

     

    I've seen a couple of instances where people have used a photo of the coin, and kept the original at home. It's not as good as finding the real thing, but you can still log it and get the icon, whilst the owner has the real coin safely at home.

     

    Have you seen the 'Stop the Geocoin theif' coins on UK Geocachers? I wonder if anyone would pinch one of those, or if it would make them think twice? :o

  6.  

    Just a little comment in defence of dof walkers being both a dog owner and geocacher :laughing:

    If walking from home my dog will do it's business usually on the first part of our walk. I bag it and put it to the side of the path rather than carry the bag for an hour or more. On our return journey I pick it up and take it home.

    Sometimes the poo bags you see belong to responsible dog walkers that will return for their belongings :laughing:

    If of course its bagged up while we're miles form home then It's carried to somewhere to be disposed of properly.

     

    Okay, fair enough. I have a dog too though, and I would rather carry mine for the whole walk rather than leave it somewhere, in case people jumped to the conclusion I just have!

     

    Having said that though, we're lucky around here. There are bins especially for this purpose on the beaches and most of the footpaths.

  7. I was walking through some woods oneday and some freaks had hung their dogs special bag on a tree. Do they think the poo faerie is gonna come down and remove it for them.

     

     

    Yes, I've seen that too - why do people do that? In my opinion, that's actually even worse than just leaving the poo on the path. At least if they did that eventually the rain would wash it away. Putting it in a bag just means it can't biodegrade. There are some weird people around.

     

    When I first started caching, pretty much every box we found was wrapped in a black bin bag, so I thought that was the norm and did the same to my first cache. Now, none of my caches are wrapped (although we did visit one of ours a couple of months ago to find that someone had 'kindly' wrapped it for me because it was getting a bit wet :laughing: ).

     

    Also, re: the Morrisons boxes - pretty much all my caches are these, and we've only had one problem where a clip had come off. This was easily replaced. Embarrassingly enough, I went into a supermarket once and asked the assistant where the Geocaches were. When they didn't understand, I mimed following a GPSr, saying 'you know, tupperware boxes!' as if that made everything clear. :laughing:

     

    In the same day though, my friend asked an assistant in another shop if they sold handcuffs (she meant 'cufflinks' - the assistant's face was a picture!) - so that made me feel better! :laughing:

  8. I've seen some on eBay, but it was being offered from a US seller, and there's some weird 'HM Customs & Excise' rules about it so I didn't bother.

     

    You can use hairspray inside the cache, it works just as well, as long as it's the strong, firm-hold kind, it fragments the signal so it's easier to pick up apparently. Makes everytthing a bit sticky though, so I wouldn't recommend it. :P

     

    Off-topic I know, but has anyone ever played Mornington Crescent by the way? I love it, it's great game!

  9. Just the opportunity to be out in the open air and witness the seasons changing and the circle of life does it for me.

    If that sounds a bit on the hippy side then so much the better :laughing::P:laughing:

     

    Yep, another good reason. Geocaching has taken us to so many places we would never otherwise have found, I know I've said it before but this is my favourite location ever.

     

    Also, I love photography, and these two hobbies go very well together.

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