Wronskian

Now claimed - thanks for the interest, folks.

Does anybody want two ammo boxes? The regular 'full-size' type. I got some from the Hornet, way way back at the first Xmas cache bash, and although I used a few, there have been two sat in my hallway for the last three years! You can have them for free if you'll come and get them from Ely, Cambridgeshire. I'll put them outside my house. The first person to send me a private message or an e-mail (sam at samholloway dot co dot uk) will be sent the co-ordinates in return! Then just come and get them when you can. I'll try to make sure that the bin-men don't take them... OK, so it's not exactly the offer of the year, but I know there are several active cachers locally, so it might well appeal to someone. Sam

The bear has now sold - for £50.07. A very respectable amount for such a small bear. Thanks to all, Sam

Three hours to go - any more bids for this worthy cause?

Thanks for the bumps. Ooops <bump> I've done it again. One day to go...

Hi all, It's not often I'm around these parts, but I've popped up again today for a good cause. I have one of UK geocaching's prize finds - a Tim & June bear (Mk II) - and he (or she) is looking for a new loving home. You can read more about the bears on their official site! The auction is on eBay and will run until Friday evening. Every penny raised will go to Children in Need - nothing gets taken away for eBay fees or anything like that, as this is part of their new charity auction scheme. It's not the first time T&J bears have appeared on eBay for charity, and last time Huga & friends raised £120 for worthy causes. So please visit the auction and dig deep! All the best, Sam (aka Wronskian)

Very sad to hear this news. I met Mark on his first Children in Need fox hunt quest. His dedication to both caching and CIN was incredible, and the UK community owes him a great deal. He'll be missed. Sam

I heard from MCL that you'd hit the 1000th find, so I'm making a brief return to forum-land to pass on my congratulations! A very impressive achievement indeed. Sam

It was Huga's 200th as well. Does something make you think we'd been planning it? While I'm here, hello to everyone in forum-land, old and new. Sorry I don't get much of a chance to hang around here these days (in fact, I don't seem to get much of a chance to go caching these days...) but I do still have a browse to see what's being discussed from time to time. Glad to see it's all so bustling; keep up the good work! -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

I'm 2E1FTP - never got round to doing the proper licence. In fact, I've never used that call sign, either. But I keep it up to date. I like the letters. -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

I may or may not be at work. (if you remove the 'may or may not be' and replace it with 'am', the above statement is more truthful) -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

I've never met another cacher in the field in 58 finds (unless it was pre-arranged), although I've had a couple of near misses. -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

I don't think there's much wrong in not logging a cache find on the website, but I agree that it's not fair for TB owners when their bugs go astray and don't get logged. For instance, I went on my first caching trip in March 2002 and had done around ten caches on four or so trips before I first came to the GC.com site and set up my own profile. (Before then I'd always been taken caching with someone else.) -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

Any chance we can get this thread locked down? Or is everyone secretly enjoying it?! -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

I've utterly no idea what I'll be doing in July, but if I can make it, I will! -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

An interesting question! A complete guess could be that it is the Post Office or more likely the local sorting office. Usually, the postcode <blah>1 1AA is the sorting office. Certainly true here in Cambridge (CB1 1AA) and one of our neighbouring areas, Stevenage (SG1 1AA). So if the town locations are derived from postcodes, it could well be the sorting office in some cases. Will check some out - could be a fun game! -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

Sounds like I missed a good 'un. Never mind - will get diary-checking for the next one(s). Hope all had a good time, and still thanks anyway to C&M for arranging! -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

I was going to suggest Watermead Wetlands 3, but that was 'only' about 7-8 months. A nineteen month gap is going to be hard to beat. -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

Absolutely! -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

...and I think for you to say that you don't is severely mistaken. People may disagree with what you say, but that doesn't mean they don't support you. We respect your decisions, although respecting this one is going to be very difficult indeed. At a time when geocaching in the UK is growing rapidly and firm guidance is needed more than ever, the loss of your faith in this community is a crashing blow.

I think too many people are assuming those of us saying "no" to R&J are saying "no" to new blood. That simply isn't true. * I do want new people to start geocaching but * I don't think we're ready, structured or able to cope with a huge influx of numbers Given that Cactus are going ahead with the feature, though, then it is absolutely essential we are represented with our most knowledgeable people, and preferably someone with a bit of media/journalistic sense, too. We've seen good publicity (Inside Out). We've seen bad publicity (that radio interview on, I think, BBC Scotland). In my mind I have a very clear opinion of how the interview could procede, but given that some people round here are far too scared of libel then I'll keep that one to myself! (I don't want to get into another *****ing session. Did that get starred out, too? Pathetic.) IF you are going for mass publicity THEN you must be ready to accept an influx of new people. Clear guidelines on behaving responsibly. Clear guidelines on finding caches. VERY VERY clear guidelines on hiding caches. I don't think having a large number of new cache finders is much of a problem (providing they respect the area, rehide the cache properly etc etc) - all's fine. What worries me more is having inexperienced people setting caches. Am I the only person round here who often feels worried, wary, conspicious about some cache locations? It worries me that I must be... Geocaching is a great hobby and new blood is vital, but under the current ad-hoc arrangements it simply can't afford to grow exponentially. Just be careful... -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

The odd article in a local paper, the odd report on local radio, even a snippet on a local news programme (e.g. the excellent Inside Out feature) - they've gradually introduced people to the hobby and generally we haven't had any problems. But national TV with a couple of million viewers? I don't think geocaching in the UK would stand up to that. Bad idea in my opinion, too. -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

For me, it's definitely overall location. I'm not really bothered about what's inside. As said above, being taken to new locations that otherwise you wouldn't have seen is always fun. A puzzle element can be good, although I don't mind just a plain co-ords and box. The bit I don't like is the final scrabbling around hunt. A good clue and even a spoiler photo certainly don't spoil the fun for me. I have a look round first, but the last thing I want is to come away empty-handed when I was right on top of the thing, just because I didn't check one particular thorny bush. I'm afraid I don't find much fun in scrambling around the brambles - it's the overall caching experience and finding the location to within GPS range that I enjoy. -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

Annoying! Well, you could always just use tinyurl or makeashorterlink... -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)

I kept the Sunday clear but now it's Saturday, that's no good for me. Although it is possible I might 'drop in' for an hour; very unlikely at the moment, though. -- Seek and ye shall find (tupperware, ammo boxes, bears, free ISP CDs...)