2022-10-01 53 6

Location

Downtown Groningen, in front of theater "Stadsschouwburg".

Participants

Shevek
Gamma

Plans

Shevek and (Gamma) are going to try the midnight+bicycle+no batteries achievement, since the location is so easy to reach and so close to both their home. They considered going by public transport, but going by bikes should get them home sooner than waiting for the bus and thus giving both more time to sleep.

The hash seems to be very near a pub, so the pub geohash might be obtained. The achievements list has the short description of "Having a pint with your geohash", but Shevek dislikes alcohol. Furthermore, the pub may be already be closed by midnight, so Shevek and Gamma read Pub Geohash very carefully. Fortunately, it says:

The beverage need not be alcoholic.
Shevek can win the achievement as well!
(...) when the coordinates place you within sight of a pub (...)
The darkness at midnight might be their adversary, or their limited quality cameras. Downtown has good lighting/lanterns though.
(...) go to that pub and drink a beverage of your choice.
They interpreted it this way: since there is no explicit mentioning of obtaining (i.e. buying) the beverage in the pub, one can take his own beverage with him.
(...) one needs a photograph with the beverage
That's easy.

Gamma drew a map for the No Batteries Geohash achievement.

Expedition

Because of the Pub Geohash achievement, Shevek made lemonade, Gamma grabbed a can of beer from the fridge.

Because of the Bicycle geohash achievement, they biked downtown (some 20 minutes). The geohash is in front of a famous theater in Groningen, so they had no problem whatsoever to reach the theater. Gamma looked at his map and then noticed his map and the actual location differed. This was because a bus stop was build and bushes/trees/planters were moved and/or removed. Fortunately, Gamma had drawn enough circumstantial clues to ascertain where the geohash was.

Since it was 23:55 on 2022-09-30, they had 5 minutes to spare. They had time to see whether the pub geohash was doable or not. From the geohash, there was indeed a line of sight. The pub turned out to be open and actually be very crowded. The lighting was sufficient for their cameras to provide the necessary proof.

At exactly midnight (0:00 on 2022-10-01, not 24:00) they were indeed at the hash. The large clock in the Martini tower (the church at the heart of Groningen) was visible. The hands of the clock were well lit, so they had beautiful proof of being at mignight at the geohash.

Shevek and Gamma drank their beverages right in front of the pub, with a sign with the name of the pub on it and rode their bikes back to their homes.