2019-07-07 51 -1

It began with a fateful message one morning: "Owl, have I mentioned that I've started geohashing again?"

Something stirs in the innermost part of my being. Something long forgotten and perhaps best left that way.

It had been a long time since I had followed the way of the hash. My trusty Garmin banished to a storage vault a continent away with the other relics of my former life. But in these enlightened times madness is just the twitch of a finger away. Without a conscious thought, I'd downloaded the Geohash Droid to my phone.

In the office on Saturday afternoon, the screen lights up.

Tomorrow's geohash point is within reach.

Expedition

Thus I, UnwiseOwl, find myself on a Sunday afternoon waiting in the sun for a purple bus to take me out to Headington, one of the surrounding suburbs of my adopted home of Oxford, half a world away from the rest of my geohashing exploits.

The hashpoint is mere metres from the bus stop
A view from the saddle of my trusty steed
Be free, faithful steed, be free

The hash point is just a stone's throw from the bus stop, so I bid farewell to my noble steed and proceed on foot to the hash location, conveniently positioned in the doorway of this friendly-looking home.

There's no answer when i knock, which is probably just as well, as my old geohashing banter is a little rusty these days, and what might have sounded acceptably twee from a teenager just out of school probably wouldn't have had the same effect from a sweaty red-faced fellow of my age. So I leave behind a token and a packet of sealed cookies as a token of goodwill from the internet at large and remember to snap a photograph over my shoulder as a head off on my merry way.

A most inviting door
Close-up of the token
Make sure to look right at the sun when taking selfies, it always makes for a great photo.

Since Tin-Tinn works nearby I dropped past before catching another bus home. She showed me a horse.

Can I get a lift home, mate?

Aftermath

Oxford being Oxford, this popped up on the feed of a mutual friend. It seems that the people who I visited then passed on the cookies and cryptic note to a family member, who after being suitably confused managed to make it back to this page! Truly the internet is a magical place.