2009-07-30 59 18

Location

A residential area by the coast.

Participants

Plans

Plans? What plans? I was woken up in the late afternoon by a phonecall from my friend Gnitset, who explained that the day's geohash was too close to miss. Thus began my quest.

Expedition

On the up side, I had gotten plenty of sleep. On the down side, I had precious little food at home, and nigh on no equipment; I knew I would not need to travel terribly far, but doing it on an empty stomach just would not do. I walked out to my balcony; frightfully high, to be sure, but safe enough compared to the ruckus of the area, and got a picture of the general direction where my quest would lead me. Also, after some rummaging, I did find the old ring; already tagged with my name, I chose to mark the reverse side of the tag to document my quest.

Preparations, such as they were, done, I left my abode with only some puffed corn to snack on. Luckily I live practically on top of a bakery, and that became my first stop. Not being elven, they had no lembas to offer, but I got some bread buns and set off eastward.

The roads are curiously winding and somewhat treacherous around here, what with all the self-propelled carriages. Sticking to what walkways there were, I found myself backtracking and even walking underground for some ways, but even so the road itself was uneventful. I made a few stops here and there, but bread buns and puffed corn make for an unenticing set after a while. I was somewhat chagrinned at encountering a stretch specifically marked for walking with large, jagged, sharp gravel for paving; the carriages got smooth roads, but apparently feet are not so lucky. I plodded on, and found a public bathing beach to cool my feet in. Even there, however, I found traces of a strange disrespect for feet and peace; glass shards were present, and I later found minor cuts in my toes. None enough to break through the skin, however.

In not terribly much time at all, I found myself at my destination. Or as close as I could figure, anyhow; the tracking device was as skittish as usual, but seemed to suggest a point between two houses. I'd have greeted the residents, had I found them; but they all seemed to be away. As any visitor of the second house would need to go where I went, I figured I would not offend, and I left the ring at their railing, where I'm sure it was eventually found - unlike a certain other ring, this should not be a cataclysmic event. Mission complete, I was faced with the choice of going back with my tired feet, or going onwards to soothe my stomach at a nearby grocery store. My stomach won.

As I entered the grocery store, my feet were immediately impressed with the soothingly cool floor. It was at this point I found that my pampered feet had not fared as well as I had hoped; there were blisters, albeit not weak or huge ones. Being remarkably uncreative and unforesightful, I chose to document these, but forgot entirely to note what I got to eat. I did eventually walk back home, rather than hitching a ride by bus; as this made my soles worse, the last stretch was not the happiest one. Only a single passer-by suddenly asked if I'd "forgot my shoes," but he did not pause to hear any answer.

Last, but most definitely not least, my injuries led me to do a very strange thing. After looking up information on treatment of blisters, I entered that word into a Google Images search and followed the link most closely resembling mine. This led me to the Mark Saul band, and I promptly ordered their CD which I much enjoy. Geohashing can lead to wonderful finds!