Paul G0TLG

Sadly, anyone who sticks their head above the parapet and gets involved in any voluntary work is going take c**p - sadly many don't realise until it's too late, just how much. Until a year ago I was membership officer of a national charity - a voluntary, spare time position. I faced unjustified criticism, justified but insensitively presented criticism, and plain rudeness. Four days after my father died, a member of the organisation offered to break my legs for no better reason than that he didn't like committee members in general. It's true that anyone who takes over from T&J will have to expect a ton of the same kind of treatment they've had. Which is why I think the GAGB will have trouble finding anyone who'll do it for long. Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

quote:Originally posted by NattyBooshka:I have added words of apology for any offence caused, my words were never meant to hurt anybody. Oh, well that's all right then A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

The precis is that on the GAGB forum, someone gave Tim and June a right old slagging, which, if it had to be said at all, should have been said in a private email, not a public forum. T&J, not surprisingly, took exception and have resigned as chair of the GAGB, saying (IIRC) "Someone else can take the flak". I believe the forum was hosted on Tim's business web server, so I suspect its being down is neither accidental nor temporary. I agree, a sad and possibly terminal day for the GAGB. I can't see anyone wanting to take over the reins while such things are likely to be publicly posted about them. Paul G0TLG A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

Of course if a cache is planted cunningly and with due respect for the surroundings, it's really unlikely that a landowner or his agent would stumble across it by chance anyway. There are some cases, though (see the New Forest thread) where land owners' representatives check out the website to find caches planted on their land and go and remove them... Aside from the fact that it's a rule, it's only polite to ask the landowner for permission to plant a cache on his land: In practice, I would add the rider "where reasonably practicable". If you're planting a cache on Lord XYZ's estate (accessible by public right of way, obviously!) or in the grounds of an hotel, it should be fairly easy to track the land owner / manager: In other areas like "the patch of waste land behind the old power station" (nice cache, Team Tate, by the way!), it might be impossible to get anyone to admit to being responsible for that patch of land! Of course, this is all the perspective of someone who's yet to plant their first cache (and is waiting till the New Forest thing is resolved)... Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

Prayers too from the UK. God bless your family and bring the young one safe home Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

I'm too far away to help with setup, but barring accident or injury I'll be there on the day. If you need some cachers to shepherd muggles or whatever, count me in for a shift. Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

Shame - although it does mean I'm not such a rubbish geocacher as I'd thought! Seriously...sorry to hear that, Wilkinsons...these were locations that deserved to have more attention drawn to them. Just a thought - whoever is lifting these must be working quite hard, although the multi "Be Prepared" could be solved by local knowledge without visiting the start co-ords, it still took some doing. Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

I looked for Little Portugal and Little Canada this morning, and didn't find either. LP may have been my fault, but I'm sure I was looking in the right place for LC. The GPS was spot on, it fitted the clue, and there was an obvious cache hiding place...which was empty! Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

quote:It takes a big bloke to say the things he said in his last post and I will be delighted to unarchive the cache. Just what I was thinking. Well done and thanks, Mark. Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

quote:Originally posted by NattyBooshka:Again, limited experience... but I don't think you can bar a member from standing even within a constitution. You can...a body which isn't a registered charity can do more or less whatever it wants (ask Booshka's Dad about some of the rules of an organisation he and I both belong to!). Even a registered charity can bar members from standing for committee under certain circumstances: Examples I know of are, not been a full member for a certain period of time, or, has served on committee for X years and must take an enforced rest. Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

It's a huge shame, especially as TheCat seems to be taking this action in response to the comments of one person. It's not as if he'd taken a huge battering like the founders of the GAGB did... However, what matters most is that CIN will not suffer, as TheCat is going to sort something else out instead - well done him. Perhaps those of us who agree that it's a shame should make a donation to CIN anyway... Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

In Eastleigh, Ivy League is a good almost-urban cache, and there's a new one called something like Park and Precinct Wanderings. A little outside eastleigh to the North is If You Go Down To The Woods today, and Old Brickworks. These latter two are certainly fun, and in a nice area. Personally I wouldn't try Fierce Creatures after dark, but I'm a bit of a wuss... Have fun Paul (working in Eastleigh, but sadly can't do Thursday evenings...) A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

Look forward to hearing you Slytherin...although my reading of the situation is that it's going, not gone. WRTU conference made it possible for administrations to drop the morse requirement, it didn't drop it itself. Mind ou, I might be out of date there (wouldn't be the first time ) A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

Those Wobbly Club callsigns ring a bell...were you ever in Wiltshire Raynet? Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

quote: Not sure if you're the same guy who got him into caching... think you are, so thank you if you are! Yup, that's me! 'spect I'll see you on Saturday Paul (PS, can you remind me of Booshka's callsign?) A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

Being a bit slow off the mark, I've only just had a look at the HCC website caching pages. What a fantastic effort! They're a really good introduction to caching for newbies. I suspect a number of uncredited cachers were involved in helping the HCC web team prepare these pages: Well done to them, whoever they were! A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

Yep, count me in. I plan to be there from the start but I'm not very good at getting up in the mornings at weekends... Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

I've just bought an ammo box from Anchor Surplus in Nottingham, destined to become my first placed cache. Look out for "View From a Ridge (New Forest)" soon! Incidentaaly, Anchor are currently doing a two-for-one offer so I got two of the smallest size (which seems to be a common size for the caches I've found) for £2-50. While I agree with the previous comments about waterproofness and robustness, in a high-muggle content area, it's much easier to look innocent if "caught" with a tupperware cache than with an ammo box! Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

I'm still desperately hoping for the day I get to work MØRON Paul A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

Sorted! Thanks guys. A member of the Geocaching Association of Great Britain

Hi All Really easy question for someone...where do you get your ziplock bags? I can get a limited number of the small ones, but I want at least a few big enough for log books, cache goodies etc. Paul I came, I cached, I fell over in the mud

Over on the General (i.e. mainly American) forum, the question was asked if there are any UK radio amateurs here. As some may not have seen it there I thought I'd re-post it here... So far from replies to that query, we know about M0TFT, G1BRB, Morseman (who I think is G0DJA), me (G0TLG) and the team kown as G7PPG. Anyone else? Paul I came, I cached, I fell over in the mud

What time on Saturday is kick-off? Paul I came, I cached, I fell over in the mud

Try South Downs Epic 1: I couldn't find it, but it's a great walk to somewhere interesting anyway! I parked at Clayton Windmills, but there are loads of places to park depending on how far you want to walk. Only just in East Sussex, it's right on the East/West Sussex border Have fun Paul I came, I cached, I fell over in the mud [This message was edited by Paul G0TLG on June 18, 2003 at 04:04 AM.]

Well, I did say... quote: I won't mention what the trick was - he asked me a number of questions before he suggested it, so it's probably not appropriate advice in all cases. ...But on your own head be it! 1) Fill the GPSr with fresh alkaline (not rechargable) batts. 2) Switch it on, and put it into simulator mode 3) Leave it switched on for about 13 hours On the GPS 2+ this took the batteries from fully charged down to just above three quarters on the meter. This apparently revitalises the memory battery, but doesn't always work - if it doesn't you'll need to get a new memory battery fitted. Techies - if this looks like bad advice, please don't flame me! I'm only passing on what the man at Garmin told me, and I did say it's probably not always appropriate advice Paul I came, I cached, I fell over in the mud