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July 2008

the answer to life, the universe and bollards

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yves sent me this intriguing picture of two belgian bollards.  he writes “I spotted a contraption involving bollards and a hand-drying paper box,
painted with a number.”

very mysterious.  perhaps it’s a bollard weighing station ?  or are they worshipping on a numerical altar ? 

thanks for your quandary yves !

a teeny baby hedgehog

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after the sparrow hawk visit of last weekend, we’ve now got a teeny baby hedgehog whizzing aimlessly around our garden eating the lawn

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he’s only about the size of a hamster.  and seems to have his eyes closed.

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he’s very quick, but spent a lot of time going round in circles so i carefully moved him to a safer place in the undergrowth.

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but an hour or so later he was back near where we started.  and a cat was sniffing round the place.  so hopefully he’ll make it !

funkyphoto – big ben bonanza

my first geocache will say something like this:

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It’s fairly easy to come to london and take the standard tourist photo of london landmarks like the one above of Big Ben.  This cache is to help you get a slightly more unusual picture you can be really proud of.

The coordinates are for The Clock Tower itself (Big Ben is the bell inside the tower). You won’t need to go anywhere you shouldn’t and you probably won’t need your satnav !  Nearest tube station is Westminster (which itself is a fantastic site if you arrive by the Jubilee Line).

You need to work out where to stand to get the photo shown below.  To claim the cache you need to take and upload a photo to prove you found the right spot.

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You’ll get the best results if you take your photo in the afternoon as the sun moves round to illuminate the tower from the right direction.  And if you’re lucky enough to have a really nice day, get there just before sunset to watch the houses of parliament glow a glorious yellow !

Photoing tips – always take a few shots so you can chose the best one, why not include some people in the foreground to give it some scale ?  if you’ve got an SLR camera, use a small aperture to get Big Ben and the foreground nice and sharp.  Landscape mode will probably do the same on a compact camera.

Most of all, enjoy taking photos, and always look for something a little different !

spoiler:

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looking the wrong way !

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update: but it appears the rules of geocaching might not actually allow this type of geocache, so never mind.  still, you might find it useful.  or something

big ben

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big ben contained within

hats

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you must be afraid

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my advice is never to take advice from the door of a street cabinet.

1243

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clockwise numbering

caution wet floor

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the floor is downwards.  in case you weren’t aware.

tree

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