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July 2003: Paul Smith - Selling fresh air
Summer is here again, so which outdoors activity do you think is amongst the fastest growing sports in the UK? Whatever you're thinking, I bet it's not 'Geocaching'.
This relatively new pastime sends folks, friends and families into the countryside on high-tech treasure hunts. Players use a GPS handset, PDA with plug-in gizmo or GPS-enabled mobile phone and a dozen satellites in Earth orbit to get within a few metres of the well-hidden prize. This is usually an ice cream tub stuffed with trinkets of one sort or another placed in undergrowth, but some simply link to another cache with a cryptic clue or more co-ordinates. Once in the right area, players have to find the treasure and make a note in the cache logbook of the date, their name, what they've taken and what they've left in return. They might even take a group photo with a single-use camera the collection might contain. Some cached items are called 'Travel Bugs' which get their location logged as they travel from site to site, around the country or even internationally. It's all very friendly and sociable, with lots of very active communities of 'cachers sharing tips and tales on the web.
What a great thing in this day and age; a game that relies on trust and honesty. It reminds me of the tables of home produce with a tin to leave money in which might still appear in the village I grew up in. I digress. I do that if you let me.
Where do you think people get the co-ordinates to search? The Internet of course! The most popular site is www.GeoCaching.com, where you can type in your postcode to discover the whereabouts of the nearest 'troves' to you. I learned of one less than a mile from my front door and using a hint from the site -as I don't have GPS equipment- I was able to claim a Men In Black™ kids toy deneuralizer (bizarrely it's just what I've always wanted) in exchange for two smelly candles, a rubbery HP key-ring and a helpful 'Things to do in Buckinghamshire' leaflet.
It's nice to combine a good leg stretch with a competitive aim without having to resort to Golf. Yet the story of Geocaching doesn't end there. There's caching for the hardcore elite: Night-caching. Multi-caching. Speed-caching probably.
Basic GPS handsets retail from as little as £99 and can naturally be used for a lot more than just Geocaching by walkers, cyclists or sailors. All of whom tend to use the 'net for routes and weather reports too. If you dabble or have dabbled in the murky world of mobile phones or other hand held toys, then perhaps you should think about promoting this new hobby by selling GPS equipment too. Surely, anything that gets people using their computer and then sends them out to do something healthy in the real world has to be a good thing.
Paul Smith still seeks employment Nirvana. Please e-mail him at info@snapsandbytes.co.uk with your offers.
489 lung-filling, cobweb-blowing words Dale.