Daryl and Niki Toogood

Apology

noreply@blogger.com (Niki) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 23:47:00 +0000

I feel that I must apologise for my apauling spelling in the last few posts!

I can only put it down to the fact that I must be tired and therefore my shaky hands punching even more wrong keys than normal. Either that or I was just lazy and didn't re-read my posts before I published them. (I prefer the first)

Anyway apology made I will try harder next time!

Happy New Year! Let's hope it gets better!

noreply@blogger.com (Niki) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 23:24:00 +0000

Here came New Year's Eve again. Normally I would have been at some part or another seeing in New Year and having a rather late night.

Not this year!

Daryl and I were working on New Year's Day so we opted for a rather reserved evening at home with a couple of friends. Steve bought a couple of huge rockets to let off at midnight and we had a couple of drinks and watched some TV. Again we started Monopoly but it wasn't finished. Daryl has really got a bee in his bonnet about finishing a game of Monopoly now!

When it came to midnight we counted down with Big Ben and Daryl and Steve set off the fireworks. Who knows where they ended up as i didn't see the going of them, although we did find the debris a few houses down the next day! Scrumpy decided that letting two huge rockets off at the same time was a bit too noisy for him so I ended up with a big cowering puppy on my lap trying to bark at the bangs.

It was quite funny as just as our rockets went off it seemed to signal the start of a pletherer of fireworks all around the surroundinhg neighbourhood that went on for a good half hour afterwards. Unfortunately we then had to say our goodbuyes and try to get some sleep before our 12 hour shift at work the next day.

We had just settled down and dozing off to the sound of fireworks when Mum called to wish us a Happy New Year. She and Dad were at Pasquale's restaurant with Katherine and they were having a huge party that sounded great fun. It all made us feel worse and we vowed that new year we will make sure we spend the night out at the party too!!!

So the next day we got up and off to work very tired. Most people at work hadn't been able to enjoy the night as they had to get up early and those who had been working all night had been very busy with the usual assaults and drink related incidents who all depserately need an ambulance as soon as their legs stop working. It's amazing how many people have their "drinks spiked" as they are never like this normally, only to find out on further questioning that they had actually drank the equivalent of the Atlantic Ocean in alcohol!

We were very busy New Year's Day and it was for genuinely sick patients. It all ended up with us going to bed ridiculously early and reinforcing that next year we will enjoy New Year's Eve and not be working on New Year's Day!

Since then we have had a high number of patient's who are very sick and the outlook is not at all good for them. It seems that so far the new Year has just held nothing but bad news for a number of people. I just keep holding the hope that it can only get better!

I'm sure I said that last year too! But I still believe it.

Presents, presents!

noreply@blogger.com (Niki) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 23:01:00 +0000

Christmas Day we got up at 6am a) because I had to get the turkey on and b) well it was Christmas and I was just too excited!

For the first time we were hosting Christmas for Mum and Dad and Julia so not only was it my first turkey ever but it was a big bird. Daryl and I started on the preparation and got almost everything prepared before Mum and Dad arrived for breakfast after dropping off Katherine (my sister) and Pasquale (her partner) off at the airport. This in itself was quite an event as just two days before hand it looked as though they wouldn't make it to Italy for Christmas due to the fog. I had planned some emergency rations just in case but luckily we didn't need them.

Daryl then cooked a fantastic breakfast whilst I opened a bottle of Bucks Fiz. I was most surprised that the turkey cooked perfectly but Dad just couldn't help but come and help out a it was the first Christmas in a few years that he hasn't had to help cook the dinner. I tried to get him to relax and enjoy himself but admitted defeat and let him help me with the turkey!

Then it was on to opening presents. And goodness me there were alot of presents! We had had trouble all morning and Guinness, Scrumpy and Peanuts had all been loitering around the pile of presents having a good sniff and looking like they were saying "if I just open the edge of that one there they won't notice a thing" and "I can't wait for them to open that one as I know what's in that one!" As we started opening presents Guinness as usual was "helping" everyone by tearing open the paper and even the present if he got carried away. Scrumpy didn't take long at all to get into this new game of tearing paper. The only thing was that it took ages for us to open the presents as the boys insisted on going round everyone and tearing the paper off of everyone's present. Scrumpy was happiest though with a huge pile of torn up paper around him slowly ripping it into tiny little pieces! We regularly had to stop to clear the decks and then start again.

After we had finished it was boys turn to open their own presents but by this time Scrumpy had got tired and wasn't interested in opening his own presents himself. He let Guinness open them but was quite happy to play with the resulting toys though.

Daryl got the latest Monopoly game which we started playing just before dinner. Daryl insisted on being the banker as it was his game but Julia kept an eye on his calculations as he had had a couple of drinks although this ended up in Julia didling Daryl out of a few million pounds instead. I had to stop to dish up dinner and eventually had to kick everyone off of the breakfast bar so that I could dish up. Even today in the several games of Monopoly that we have started I don't think a game has actually been finished yet!!!

Dinner was a huge success I think! We decided to go a bit posh this year and got out the best cutlery, china and crystal glasses. We also laid the table with the works placecards and centrepiece the works. I was pleased. Anyway I dished up the biggest dinners ever and Daryl could only manage an extra two potatoes and parsnips before he was stuffed too! Unfortunately Julia had to go to work so I dished up her pudding in a pot with copious amounts of cream and sent her to work with it. I later heard from the girl that she was working with that she complained she had eaten too much.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in front of the TV and Darren popped round which was quite welcome as it stopped us all from dropping off to sleep. Katherine had given us some presents for after dinner which were some silly books of games and quotes and also "Bop It" which then resulted in a big competition of not very high scores.

The eveninbg ended quite early as unfortunately Daryl and I had to be at work for 6am on Boxing Day which we weren't looking forward to.

Christmas walk in the dark anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Niki) — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 22:46:00 +0000

Christmas was great!

Christmas Eve we were invited out by Lowland Search Dogs Sussex for their annual Christmas Eve yomp in Midhurst. It was great fun! Mum and Dad joined us and Seamus and Merlin met us there so ther was a good contingent from Berkshire. Anyway Sally went round with some snap sticks that we put round each dog as a collar. Scrumpy's was too big so we had to wrap in into his collar so he didn't loose it. In the end there were 16 dogs (mostly collies or collie crosses) running around with 15 humans walking through the woods in the dark. If you stopped to look it probably looked like something from a dodgy 60's sci-fi show with these glo-stick collars running round the woods with the odd white tail wagging.

Scrumpy, who had recently found his voice and starting barking, got all big and brave but one of the terriers soon put him in his place. At the end of the day he may be bigger than the terriers but he is still only 3 months old! Well after this altercation Scrumpy spent the rest of teh walk diving around our legs trying to trip us up or was is "protect me Mum and Dad!!"

Guinness, who managed to loose his glo-stick before we left the car park, ended up with his light up search collar on wehich was good as we could tell him apart from a distance. This was handy when he decided to run off in the opposite direction from the rest of the "pack". After much calling and whistling Guinness returned with you've guessed it a TENNIS BALL!!!!!! How on earth did he find that in the woods?

We eventually returned to the car park for drinks and nibbles which were most welcome as we hadn't managed to have dinner before we left. We had clocked a kebab van on the way to the woods but we didn't need his fine cuisine after we had scoffed a mixture of sausages, baked potatoes, pizza, etc.

Thank you to Sussex for their invite and I can strongly recommend a re-run next year!

Fantasy WRC 2007

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 21:39:00 +0000

I am a big fan of the World Rally Championship. Until recently I was a member of a Rally Rescue Unit that amongst many local and national rallies used to cover World Rally Championship - Great Britain. Unfortunately the unit has now closed down so I have stolen a game from another website Fantasy World Rally Championship.

Please click the banner above to find out more!

Christmas is Coming!

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 21:33:00 +0000

Loads happening at home - well Christmas Stuff anyway!

We have wrapped most of our presents (still a few to pick up tomorrow), we have even been able to open some at Christmas Day mark 2! It was a bit touch and go as to whether Niki's sister would be able to fly to Italy on Christmas day, but its looking a little more promising now!

We are hosting Christmas Day in our new house. Julia ( a friend of ours) will be joining us for most of the day till she has to go to work in the evening. Niki's Parental Units will be with us all day.

Its all quite exciting really!

Tomorrow we are off for a walk with our friends from Lowland Search Dogs Sussex, a short evening walk with all of the dogs and some nibbles after. It will be like 101 border collies tomorrow evening!

I will post shortly after Monday to tell ya what I got!

Happy Christmas ya all!

Madness at Wembley!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 01:20:00 +0000

Well tonight I finally got my Birthday Present.......... (no innuendo intended!)

.....We went to Wembley Arena to see Madness live and it was fantastic! Madness were supported by an American Reggae Band called Aggrolites, they were quite good, good enough for me to buy their album, although I don't think the crowd thought so.

Madness played a great set of music, some old, some new, some never heard before! Tonight was their final night of the tour.

One thing that was very cool, was that you could buy a copy of the gigg on CD straight after the end, they only made 1000 so its a collectors item already! I had to get one!

The only two things that let the night down were.....

A Scouse couple stood next to us arguing about being drunk, they argued through the first 5 songs! They should have saved their money and argued at home!
The queue to get the CD's at the end was appauling! There were some people wearing event management tabards, think they might need to go on a course or two!

Nearly had to "Educate" a dog walker!

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 08:51:00 +0000

Scrumpy has had a few issues this morning, he has recently found his voice and like to use it! This is something that we have not had to deal with as Guinness never barks!! Unfortunately when taking the boys out after our shift last night, we came across another dog walker, her dog must have been very aggressive as she grabbed her dog as soon as she saw us, then started telling him off straight away! Grumpy did his usual walk a few paces and then let out a little bark. Any dog owner with an ounce of sense can see that Scrumpy is not barking aggressively - his tale is wagging!!!

Anyway the dog walker in question started to have a go at us, lets say she is lucky that I was in uniform otherwise I may have had to educate her about dog ownership!

Another minor issue that we have found with Scrumpy is that he seems to like to pull on his lead - something that I am sure we will rectify shortly.

If anyone has any suggestions or tips and tricks to help us, feel free to comment.

A Post for Julia - Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 23:01:00 +0000

Hows my puppy?
I'm not really sure what she means by this, unless she has bought a dog recently.........?

.... However Guinness is Guinness, he is his normal self, taking life as it comes, he doesn't seem overly concerned that he didn't pass his last assessment with Niki, and is now very much asleep!!

Scrumpy has managed to steal lots of hearts, everyone seems to love him, even I have to admit (and I don't use the C word often!) he is very cute! Scrumpy has managed to surprise me with his intelligence (must be the collie part of him!) He is pretty much house trained, he has the odd accident, normally at night or when he gets over excited, but the that's part of having a puppy. We haven't really started any formal SAR training yet, but we play the odd hide and seek game or Search game in the house - things are looking very good for him, especially as he naturally does some of the things that we normally need to train a dog to do, I just hope he keeps doing it!

Hows my spare bedroom?
The spare room is good! We got a Sofa Bed from ebay for the rather large sum of £4.75 as it was second hand and has a small rip at a seam in the back that nobody can see!! It is dark reed and fits in well with the decoration of the room! It has been slept on by a couple of our friends who have all reported that it is comfortable!

Have you painted the blue room yet?
For those of you that don't know, when we moved into our new house the room that we intended to use as ours had three white walls, one royal blue wall and a carpet that is made up of a pattern of roads with shops and houses (the sort that you used to play with as a child). Well the carpet has gone, the walls have been papered (thanks Derek) and painted, the new furniture is in (almost) and it is nearly finished. We have gone for neutral brown colours and dark wood furniture and blinds, we have some Africa bits and pieces to put up on the wall from our honeymoon - Not sure if I have described it very well, but if not pop in for a cuppa and look for yourselves!

A Post for Julia - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 22:40:00 +0000

What have you been up to?
It is now Saturday, we managed to get home from Bristol at 01.30 this morning, it is now 08.00 and the alarm is going off!!!

Scrumpy and Guinness don't want to get up and neither do we, but unfortunately we don't have a choice!! Off to Micheldever Woods in Hampshire we go, Niki (with Guinness) and Tim (with Pepper) need to be re assessed for their Search Dog Level 3 qualification (see the LSDogs website for more info). They have been working their dogs for 2 years and need to be reassessed. Each handler is assessed by two assessors, the must complete the area in less than 90 minutes and find all of the missing people in that area - if any are missed you fail, and only get one chance in the day! For one reason or another Niki was not successful on this occasion and Tim was - I will leave Niki to post about her experience). Then off to introduce Pete and Kim (members of the SAR Dog team) to Geocaching - I think they enjoyed it!

The evening has arrived, we have showered and had a 20 minute catnap, then off to the pub we go - it is the dog team Christmas drinks, I have just eaten the hottest pizza that I have ever eaten (and have just finished suffering the after effects now!) and now about to have the odd alcoholic beverage at our local hostilery - much fun was had, much alcohol was drunk and I think we only managed to upset 1 table (maybe one of the sober ones would like to comment on this?) then back to the ranch for a quick game of roulette.

Sunday morning has arrived all too soon, we have taken the boys out for a walk in some local woods that I have not been to before - think we have just found a new training area! A lovely set of woods, a crisp clear cold morning, and not many other people to bump into, and whilst we were there - that's right, another Geocache!!

Christmas Day Mark 2!
After Christmas Day Mark 1 at my dads, it is time to have Mark 2, we have been invited to Niki's mum and dads to join her sister and boyfriend and granny for a get together. Smudge and Pasquale are going to be in Italy for Christmas day, so ours is this evening!

Pasquale made some very nice Italian nibbles to go with our home made mulled wine and then the present unwrapping begins - as always the boys are at hand to assist! Niki has got a very nice watch made by Smudge and some floating bath lights, I got some fly fishing polarised sun glasses and some James Bond DVDs to add to my collection - Thanks guys, we are both very pleased with our pressies!!!

Tomorrow we start nights :0( Lets see if the shift brings anything to chat about....

A Post for Julia - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 22:16:00 +0000

After my last post Julia had a little bit of a rant and asked some questions......

.....Thanks Julia, that's what people are supposed to do on a blog!! So on with answering her questions!

I want to know what you two have been up to
We have had one of the busiest weekends in history!! Our weekend started on Friday, we left at 08.30 for our annual Bristol run, this is when I go to Bristol and play the role of the Hogfather for my family. Our First stop is at a service station on the M4. We have been on the road for a little under an hour, probably one of Scrumpy's longest journeys in the truck. We have decided to stop to let him stretch his legs and to do what puppies do best - Weeeee. Then it is our turn to refresh ourselves and use the facilities, £13 poorer we have managed to have a drink and bite to eat. Back on the road again and we arrive at my grandmothers, the boys get another quick walk in the countryside and we get a very welcome FREE cup of coffee!

My grandmother hasn't been well for the last couple of days (8 or so), so she uses Niki and I as her own personal medical advice service. Grandma lives 1 mile from the nearest bus stop, 5 miles (or so) from the doctors and nearest shop. She explains that no matter how unwell she is she can not get a GP to visit, she has even requested a district nurse visit which was also refused - and I thought the NHS was pants here!!

We get the same stories, the increasing problems of airport parking springing up along her road, the relatives trying to convince her to move from her lovely house and grounds to a small bungalow where she will get hassled by them 24/7 (can't see why she doesn't want to leave! ;0)

We have finally decided that Grandmas house is a residential unit for the old and elderly cats, its a bit like Weston-super Mare or Bournemouth, a place where old people go to die! Since Fred (her original cat from my childhood) passed away, she has never been alone from her feline friends, she has never bought a cat, they just turn up and move in!! I have lost track of their names, and how many there have been, however the last one died of old age only 6 months ago, only to find that the latest addition moved in the following day!! How do they know?

Next off To Nan and Gramps house (I will talk more about them at another time) we are greeted by Gramp who is just about to dish up our lunch, a two course meal of Shepherds pie and gravy cooked in Scrumpy (not the dog) with veggies, and Tiramisu for desert, we are now pretty stuffed!! We stop for a natter for an hour or so, then off to Nailsea to meet up with my dad!

We have met my dad at the local library to take him (Geocaching) for the first time, why the library? I will not give too much away but this was a very complicated and interesting treasure hunt, after much research, problem solving, walking up steep hills in the dark and avoiding angry landowners, we finally find the cache some two hours later!

We returned home for a bottle of red wine or two and a three course meal!! After a very good meal and a very enjoyable day we jump back into the truck for a long and tiring ride home.

Feeds Added

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 09:25:00 +0000

I have added feeds from two other blogs that I go to....

...Random Acts of Reality - An Ambulance blog, definately worth a visit!!!
....Aplin's Random Thoughts - A new blog, just started by a friend - but I can feel the humor already!

Just look at the links on the right of this page

Blog upgrade - sort of!

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 11:07:00 +0000

I have upgraded the Blog to Beta Blogger, a supposed upgrade!

I should have known better!!

If you are subscribed using FeedBlitz, please re subscribe using the form on the blog page, I have now changed it to feed burner.

If you haven't subscribed, maybe ya should?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 22:06:00 +0000

A quick Happy Birthday to two people today!

My Nan and Sally Chewter - a friend in Sussex from Lowland Search Dogs - Sussex

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

What we been up to recently?

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 21:56:00 +0000

Life has been a tad hectic, hence the lack of posts recently.

We recently assisted SEBEV Search & Rescue with manning road closures at a winter fair in Twyford. The main street was closed for a few hours, there were charity stalls, hot chestnuts, merry go rounds, candy floss and mulled wine. Santa even turned up with his wooden reindeer!!!

The event was fun, although very cold. Even after doing this event for years, and others - It still amazes me that people who regularly travel a route still manage to miss the big yellow signs that have been up for two weeks prior warning you of the closure, they then still looked surprised when the road is ACTUALY closed!

One of my colleagues in SEBEV was approached by a 'local' who asked him if it was the Twyford thingy tonight, he very quickly replied na, the thingy was lat week, its the Twyford watsit tonight. The member of public seemed happy with this comment and continued on his merry way - I thought it was quite funny!

On Sunday I went to my first Geocaching Meet - both Niki and Séamus came too, we met at a pub in Goring, had some fantastic food, the went out to find some local Caches. We had to solve some problems in order to get the clues for the cache locations. We found four or so, one of which had a Christmas card to us from the organisers, and a ticket for a prezzie when we got back to the pub.

Much fun was had!

An appology

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 00:32:00 +0000

Consider myself told off!

I was not aware that people actually read the stuff we put on here, after all we have only had two people sign up for the email notifications thing, and only about three people who have commented in the Blog.

We promise to do our best to post 4 0r 5 times a week but.....

....what sort of thing do you want to hear about?

Christmas is coming and the turkey is in the freezer! Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Niki) — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 23:40:00 +0000

Once home Daryl gets the decorations down and we get the tree in from the garden to drop. I test the lights and find that two of the three strings of lights for the tree are not working. After about half an hour of Daryl fiddling with bulbs and not really making any progress we bit the bullet and off to Homebase again to buy Christmas lights.

Finally we get home at about 8:00pm and I dress the tree. Once finished it looks fantastic but quite a palava just for a tree.

Day two the outside lights

As it was so dark by the time we finished yesterday Daryl decided that today we would put up the icicle lights from the gutter. So off to Mum and Dad's to borrow the ladders. First we thought we would have to walk them home as they are so large but thankfully this time we took the truck and they fitted on the roof. So with a blanket on the roof and Dad's multi purpose tow rope (that's also been a dog lead) to tie the ladder down off we go home.

So the most wobbly ladder in the world is set up and the lights are untangled, Daryl ascends the ladder. It took a little while for Daryl to regain his climbing legs but not too long. Whilst up there we decide to clear the gutter as we have been having cascades of water every time it rains. So Daryl takes a handful of soggy moss and throws it to the floor narrowly missing me! By the time we have gone along the width of the house with the lights and moss clearing both the dogs and I are covered in moss as well as the doors and windows and patio. BUT THE LIGHTS WORKED!!!!!!!!!!

So after all of the escapades we have decided a few things. 1. to check the lights before we go shopping for a tree. 2. Clear the gutters more regularly. 3. All club together to buy a new set of ladders.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Christmas is coming and the turkey is in the freezer! Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Niki) — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 23:22:00 +0000

Well December the 1st arrived and all who know me know that the decorations have to go up.

So off to Homebase we went for a real Christmas tree. We found quite a few considering that there is supposedly a shortage this year. Any way we were discussing whether to get a 5ft or 6ft tree. I suggested the 6ft as we now have a house. So Daryl picked the bushiest 6ft tree that we could find. After collecting a few other bits we trotted off to the checkout in convoy with the tree suspended between us. I pick the closest, emptiest til I could find which was also manned by one of our Asian cousins which Daryl thought hilarious. Well he was full of Christmas cheer anyway. Then we trot off out into the car park to the car. So I opened the boot then we looked at each other to decide how best to get the bushiest 6ft tree into my little C4 coupe!!! So down went the seats and in went the tree at an angle. I drove home with branches digging into my arms. Anyway home safe and sound so the tree got taken into the garden. Thank goodness for french doors and a garden gate.

Whilst considering getting the remainder of the decorations down from the loft Daryl decided that he did not fancy going rock climbing up the walls to get into the loft but wanted a ladder. We don't have a ladder big enough to reach the loft so off to B&Q in Reading! Wandering around we find a couple more things that we needed and then off to find a ladder. Luckily we found a ladder the right size at the right price. Whilst at the checkout two lads followed us with a couple of the spindliest Christmas Trees we had ever seen so we did have a giggle as ours was particularly impressive this year. So all paid for and the heavens opened! When it had calmed down a little off to the car we went and again we had to put down the seats and squash a ladder into my little C4 coupe!! Whilst in Reading we decided to pop to Hobbycraft as I needed a couple of bits. Whilst in there the assistant told us that there had been an accident on the road that we wanted to get out of Reading on, so we decided to go to Tesco to get the milk etc that we needed. So eventually, about 5:30pm we finally get out of Reading and on our way home.

cont'd .........

Help Raise Funds for Berkshire Search & Rescue Dogs this Christmas at NO COST TO YOU!

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 16:12:00 +0000

Every purchase counts... each gift purchased generates a donation for Berkshire Search & Rescue Dogs. Plus buy.at are giving us an additional 25p on every purchase made.

Visit www.buy.at/berkshiresardogs and help us fundraise this Christmas, every purchase results in a donation for Berkshire Search & Rescue Dogs.
Pass this on to a friend and every purchase they make will raise funds for us.

Email Notification

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 00:12:00 +0000

For those of you that forget to check for updates, or dont understand or want to understand RSS Feeds, you can now sign up to be notified of additions to the blog.

Just look on the right hand side and follow the instructions.

Was this helpful?

SIT!

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:31:00 +0000

Scrumpy has not only pretty much done the hardest part of house training - Learning to do his deed on training pads at the back door and not anywhere else in the house, but he is sitting almost 85% of the time - First time!!!

I hope he is this easy to train for Search & Rescue!!!!

Geocaching

noreply@blogger.com (Niki) — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:03:00 +0000

After a brief introduction to geocaching over the last couple of years, Daryl has re-awakened my interest in this fun outdoor activity.

For those who don't know, people hide boxes or canisters of various sizes out and about and take a northings and westings reading for it. These canisters contain a log for people to sign once they have been found and ocassionally items that can be taken as souvenirs and people who find the caches leave items to swap. The coordinates of these caches and an additional encryptes clue are posted onto websites as challenges. People plug the coordinates into a GPS and try to find the caches. I may not have described it very well but more information can be found on geocaching.com.

Anyway we needed some escapism recently and decided to disappear into the woods with Guinness (not Scrumpy as he still has to wait two weeks following his jabs) and find some boxes! Initially I thought that this was a great idea, however, once I began to get the impression that the PDA that Daryl was using as a GPS was not as accurate as we would have liked and we were definitely taking the longer route.

We only went out to find two caches but during the second found ourselves wandering the same route as we had for the first. Which was fine except that the car was parked miles away!!!! Anyway after lots of walking we found both of the caches sucessfully.

On Sunday we found ourselves at a loose end so Daryl found the Sunninghill History series of geocaches. These were particularly interesting as not only were we trying to find very small caches (the size of camera film cases) but they were hidden around the villages that we regularly visit during our course of work. The guy who had set up this series had also done alot of research and put them in locations that had a story behind them. So not only was it an enjoyable walk on a Sunday afternoon but quite informative too. (There was a little competition between Daryl and I as to how many caches we could find first)

This has given us an idea to set up a similar series around the Bracknell area with associated historical facts. So once this has been set up you can all try it out and see if

a) you can use a GPS

b) you can then find the caches which are usually pretty well hidden

and c) if you learn anything new about the area

We are always looking for new places to go walking and this is great way of getting to know new areas of the country. You can always give us a shout as we would love to show people how its done and it can be quite good fun in a group as you have a bit of competition between you.

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 22:29:00 +0000

Firstly, sorry for not posting any messages recently - so now for the update.

Scrumpy
Firstly Scrumpy's training has come on a little way, the toilet training hasn't really progressed but it hasn't got any worse either! He is an absolute star getting through the dog flap that we have installed for them. However.....

....one of the main reasons that I have not posted for a while is that a certain little gentleman chewed through the power cable to my laptop whilst I was using it! Luckily the new lead arrived today.

Guinness
Guinness is Guinness, full of beans but very cuddly at the moment - think he is still a little jealous!

Fly Fishing
Yesterday Pete and I went out for a days fly fishing in Surrey - who would have thought it, after doing and teaching adrenaline sports for some time, I am now fly fishing! Between Pete and I we caught and brought home 21Ib of Rainbow Trout!! Pete caught a few more than me and his were bigger - but then it was only my 2nd time out!

I'm sure more has happened, but can't really think at the mo, too daunted about starting work at 06.00 :0(

BANG!

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:29:00 +0000

This used to be our back garden!

Steve's little thing......

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl) — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 21:37:00 +0000

As Promised, the picture of Steves little addition to the gathering below...

He also brought along a rocket too, which in my humble opinion was the best! For those that attended what did you think was the best of the 20mins or so display?

I seem to remember that Roman candles were small flares that were bright miniature flame throwers, roman candles now seem to be packs of 10 air bombs with pretty lights, oh how times have changed from when we had indoor fireworks in the late 80's!!

I will post an image of the carnage that used to be our back garden in the morning.