A Colony Of Cumbrian Cachers II

What a weekend!  51 people from 21 different caching teams attended our event so no pressure there!  As Saturday dawned a sunny spring morning on the Solway Firth, everywhere was looking particularly lovely, so many of the teams spent the morning hunting for new butty box hides before rendezvousing at the pub for lunch and a drink.  Then, it was into the Village Hall next door for a light hearted quiz and a raffle with cups of tea and biscuits to ease the chatter along.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and once it was over…. we discovered we had too

A Colony Of Cumbrian Cachers

In a moment of madness some weeks ago, we decided to organise a small geocaching event out at Bowness on Solway.  It’s a lovely but infrequently visited area so we thought we’d create an opportunity for local cachers who rarely meet in the wild, but feel they know one another by reading cache logs, to explore the area,  find a few new caches, meet up for a pub lunch and share tales of daring do. Never having been to an event ourselves, we’ve decided to keep it low key.  The Big Day dawns tomorrow! Let’s hope some cachers turn up.

Dream Home

I've always had a fondness for the sea which may arise from growing up on the flat, Fylde coast. (I've also developed  a real affection for mountains but I'm unable to explain that one away with a nostalgic reference to my childhood).  Catching the end of a house design programme on TV started Andy and me thinking about our dream home.  It'd be in a coastal location, close to the mountains, with huge windows giving out onto forever changing views of sea and sky.  Sounds as if we should be relocating to the West Coast of Scotland!

What's on Stage Awards

Sadly, Brian Fortuna and Ali Bastian weren't victorious in the WOS "best newcomer" award for their efforts in BTF. Jonathan Groff won, (more famous for his role in Glee than in the nomination play) having led from the front since the voting opened, confirming the power of juvenile, technologically enabled, fan bases.
Brian and Ali's runner up position, with a sizeable 25% of the vote, was certainly due to the Martini Girl efforts of the FFs and TAs who "DID THEIR BIT" and voted "any time, any place, anywhere".  And now, it's time to allow Brian and Ali to move on as individuals

A Blustery Day

There's something exhilarating about walking along a beach on a blustery day and yesterday was no exception. We decided to find a new geocache that had been hidden on Grune Point; a mile long, raised shingle beach, exposed on the western side to the Solway. The point is home to all sorts of flora and fauna, which explains the astonishing number of twitchers freezing in the name of ornithology. After investigating the excellently preserved WWII pill box, we decided to deny the wind further sport and return to the car along the more sheltered Skinburness saltmarsh on the eastern side

On your bike

On Thursday, my bike chain snapped a short distance from home on the only trafficy part of my journey.  It was terrifying!  As neither of us had the time to fix it that evening, I used Andy’s bike to cycle into work the following day. Cycling on his machine seemed unfamiliar as even though the bikes are similar, the feel of it was quite different.  I was really grateful to Andy for servicing mine when I was out on Saturday as yesterday, the weather was awful.  Riding it again this morning felt like I was back with an old friend

VIth form excesses

Andy and I were guests at the VIth form dinner on Friday as Andy coaches the 2^nds hockey team.  After the delicious dinner at school, sensible adults went home, but the night was still young for Nerea and her gaggle of friends.  They  took taxis to a local studenty bar for drinks before going onto a nightclub (yes we do have one in Carlisle), arriving home at 2.30am in a taxi after eating late night chips on the street!!!  She spent most of Saturday in bed but Andy and I had little sympathy.  Thankfully she looked a lot livelier yesterday!

Timely reminders

On Saturday, I visited an old friend.  The circumstances surrounding my visit were somewhat unusual and beforehand, I was feeling slightly nervous.  As so often happens, I’d nothing to worry about and the visit was positive with lots of chatter between us.  My friend looked well and sounded optimistic about the future so I’m sure that things will turn around for her, even though it will take a little time to get there.  On leaving, as I drove off into the lovely late afternoon sunshine, I reminded myself to really appreciate freedom and other simple but beautiful pleasures in life.

Sweet 17!

 

Nerea celebrated her 17^th birthday in glorious style. She went out for a lovely meal with Alex on the Friday night  before the celebrations ramped up with an Indian meal at another local restaurant on the Saturday with her girlfriends.  Then it was a (non) sleep over at our house where birthday cake and moderate amounts of wine were consumed while watching a scary film; Andy and I retired to bed early!!.  The party concluded with home made waffles and maple syrup for breakfast on Sunday.  Unsurprisingly, the rest of the day involved her catching up on her beauty sleep!