The tale of the deacon, the eerie pigsty and the ripped jeans

They say there’s three things in life that you shouldn’t discuss with your friends: Politics, Religion and Money...although I often think there should be a fourth: football! 

For years I’ve lived by this philosophy and I have to say, for the most part, I’ve avoided falling out with anyone over differing views. 

I avoid the news like the plague so not discussing politics has been easy. Money doesn’t bring happiness, it just makes life easier, so I have no problems avoiding that subject. And not being religious in the slightest - I’m as far down the spectrum from any sort of belief as you can be -  I’ve easily managed to avoid that too. 

But this week when one of my very good friends officially became a deacon of the Church of England it has all of a sudden become a lot harder to avoid religion.

To support and wish him well in his new career I attended his official Ordination ceremony at Bury St Edmunds Cathedral, but to say I was less than comfortable throughout the lengthy two hour ceremony would be an understatement. 

After finding a space on a pew I quickly realised I was surrounded by vicars, lay preachers and a number of other people very involved in this alien world.

They all seemed to know the words to every hymn and prayer, which to  me seemed to be in an archaic, incomprehensible language, completely out of touch with 21 Century life. 

All the talk of washing feet, completely went over my head, and when people starting shaking my hand offering me a blessing of “peace be with you”, I embarrassingly found myself responding with “Hi”. Well that is what you say in business when you meet someone for the first time and shake hands.

For a large part of the ceremony I sat admiring the beauty of the cathedral and wondering how on earth people created something so huge and ornate all those years ago without the aid of modern technologies.

After the obligatory post ceremony photos and bidding my friend ‘the original party animal’ good luck in his new grown up vocation, I had to have my cache fix for the day and headed for the War Memorial earthcache. Quite appropriate really, after staring at all that mortar and architecture for two hours.

As the weekend’s temperatures seared to something almost unbearable it wasn’t until mid afternoon Sunday that I got myself out to grab some more caches.

On my to do list was a great new series not far from Haverhill called Cambs/Suffolk Stroll. A circular walk of 48 caches it was set in beautiful rolling countryside and the hides and caches themselves varied greatly, making it a rather fun adventure.

From pineapples and cute robins, to frogs and owls, so many caches brought a smile to my face.

My favourite of the day was number 43 a field puzzle, appropriately called Labyrinth. It was a cube with a maze inside and a small silver ball. 

Not quite sure what I was doing I started to move the ball through the maze only to realise I’d got it back to the start! 

I tried again, this time getting it to the end, but as I pulled the lever the log didn’t come out because I’d mistakenly had my fingers over the secret door...doh!

Third time lucky and this time as the ball fell into place I pulled the lever and out fell the log! Brilliant idea for a field puzzle. 

The most scary cache of the day was number 5 spiderpig. It was hidden inside one of 3 pigstys - a large concrete oblong building with a curved corrugated metal roof - located in the middle of nowhere. 

The wooden door was old and required a bit of effort to get it open, but as I ventured inside to look for the cache, it suddenly swung shut giving me the fright of my life. 

It was pitch black and rather eerie inside, so I quickly hurried back to the door and tried to prop it open, but the blinking thing wouldn’t stay open. 

Bravely, I decided to have a quick scout about with my phone torch but after a minute or two of failing to spot anything I decided this was a bit beyond even my enthusiasm to gain a smiley face, so I reluctantly gave up the search and logged a DNF.

The most adventurous caches of the day were numbers 25 and 26. Both were located across a very steep and deep ditch. Thank goodness it was dry as I did a bottom slide down each side and a very ungraceful scramble up! All good fun, although I noticed my jeans had a rip in them in a rather unfortunate place when I came to wash them...one bottom slide too many I think! 

This week I also completed the new Duxford Dawdle series just outside Cambridge. It was a pleasant short walk after work, and I found all of the caches without a hitch. 

Amusingly as I went to replace one cache three gorgeous dogs came running up to me. All were incredibly friendly and wanted a stroke, so I quickly re-hid the cache and gave each a pat on the head, just as their owner rounded the corner. 

I have to say, since I started geocaching I’ve never met so many dogs. I should rename this blog Dog Tales! 

See you next week for more hound and mutt tales, no doubt!