The Ordnance Survey Geograph project is ten years old. I have been contributing to it since September 2009. And yet, until yesterday, I had only met two other people who are involved in this online "community" - Mr Walter Baxter (Laird of Galashiels) and Steve from my local pub who joined up with my encouragement just last year.
On its site "Geograph" had announced some tenth birthday events around the country. With a little trepidation, I decided to travel eastwards to Lincoln and beyond to meet up with some other Geograph contributors at "The Sebastopol Inn" in the village of Minting. There would be lunch and a country walk in an area I hadn't visited since May 1972 when I attended a big pop festival at nearby Bardney - "The Great Western Express".
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| "The Sebastopol Inn" in Minting, Lincolnshire |
The pub was more like a posh restaurant and I squirmed at the drinks prices and the food menu. No sandwiches or burgers with fries here. The names of the other Geograph-ers were all familiar but not their faces. Like me they were all "mature". Though the food was expensive it was good and we had a pleasant time chattering away before sharing a two mile ramble through the quiet countryside nearby.
Jonathan from Scunthorpe had his little Jack Russell with him and at one point the mischievous little hound ran off madly into a beet field. Lord knows what he was smelling out there but that dog became a little spot on the horizon with Jonathan yelling "Come here !" and whistling to no avail. After several minutes the crazy dog came back only to be greeted with a lead and muzzle. "I need to show him who's boss!" said the bachelor church curate.
There was a woman in the little group - Chris - who has a pilot's licence and flies a Cessna on pleasure trips around the east of England. That is the viewpoint for many of her photographs. But back in the pub-restaurant she told a disturbing story of persecution by "bad" neighbours who had been instrumental in getting her arrested on three occasions. It seemed like something out of a television drama - especially the bit about being threatened with a gun - when she recorded the whole incident on a mobile phone to play back to the police as evidence of her tormentors' malice. Ah well, I guess we all have problems!
People who are part of the Geograph project like the thrill of photography, enjoy looking at maps and are interested in geographical and historical matters. It is what we have in common and in that sense it was good to meet up with the others. I also got to wander in different territory and snap photographs of unfamiliar scenes before the long drive back to Sheffield. The organiser, Richard, was a very nice man. I am glad I went.
Here's Bob's picture of the group in Minting. I am of course the younger looking fellow in the middle, feeling like a carer in an old folks' home:-
How wonderful for you. Meeting up with new people who share your interest in photography and history. Indeed, you are of an age to be the child of a couple of 'em. Sorry about the pub turning into a pricy joint that sells (gasp!) wine! Can't wait to see the pictures.
ReplyDeleteI don't drink beer in the daytime and I was driving so that's why I have a big glass of fizzy orange juice, I may never meet any of those people again. Lives accidentally colliding.
DeleteI've been a member of Geography for a while and used it for even longer but I rarely remember to post anything. I must start because it really is fascinating. I'm glad that you had a good time anyway.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't find you on Geograph Graham. What name do you use on the site? Though Geograph has "covered" most of Lewis and Harris, I don't see a Graham there.
DeleteSee http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/920161
I was going to email you all the details but I see that I don't have your address. I use my own name with the nickname Nighthawk. I've been on the site since March 2011 but, as I said, whilst I use it I haven't submitted any photos. I did find you on the site some time in the last few years.
DeleteBy the way the link you gave appears to me to be taken from the Bayble Beacon which is in fact in Upper Bayble not Lower Bayble.
It is worthwhile. I often use it when visiting a new area so really should put something back.
ReplyDeleteAdrian - I am not sure that you have the moral credentials required to become a fully-fledged geograph contributor but you certainly have the photographic credentials!
DeleteThe pub looks nice from the outside and if the food was really good then the prices may be justified, but it still is a bit of a shame that it isn't a "real" pub anymore.
ReplyDeleteI love meeting people I've only "known" before through the internet - done it many times, and have never had reason to regret any of those meetings. Sometimes, the meetings resulted in friendships (once, even marriage - Steve and I met in a Star Trek themed chatroom in the late 1990s), sometimes neither party made the effort to ever meet again, which was just as well.
Now I have another nickname for you! Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan!
DeleteStar TREK, not Wars... *groan* Why do people keep mixing up the two when they have next to nothing in common??
DeleteOkay Meike - keep your hair on! I have never seen any of the Star Wars films or Star Trek either. So if not Princess Leia, how about Nyota Uhura?
DeleteEven as a little girl, watching Star Trek for the first time round, I loved Uhura for her beauty and intelligence. Certainly not the worst choice of role model.
DeleteCould you post one of your fashion selfies with you dressed as Nyota Uhura in a Star Trek uniform?
DeleteI'm afraid I don't possess any such item. I've always wanted one of those stylish mini dresses but never got round to ordering one. My birthday is coming up soon, though...
DeleteAnother pub, another day. I think you all look very suspicious to me ~ TOSG Project ~ government spies if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteTOSG? Do you mean Thruster Operator Support Group? ..But you are right Carol we are in reality developing a strategy to counter the threat of IS (Islamic State). We call it DS (Desperate State).
DeleteIt sounds a bit like meeting up with blogging "friends" who you've sort of known for years but never met. On the two occasions I've done that it was very pleasant.
ReplyDeleteThe pub looks rather nice and though I take your point about the pub and the prices at least the food was good.
In relation to Australian restaurant pricing, it was probably quite cheap!
DeleteThat could well be true, Australia is not a cheap place to visit though the exchange rate has improved a bit in favour of the GBP I hear.
DeleteI think you might get yourself into trouble over the last sentence, YP! (Don't go out alone in the dark!) ;)
ReplyDeleteIt was rather mischievous of me wasn't it?
DeleteIt would be terrible to live having problems with neighbours...I couldn't stand that. I have no close neighbours here where I live.
ReplyDeleteMy little cabin that I rent sits on three acres. My landlords live up one end of the property and I, down the other end. Many trees are between their home and mine, and we can't see each other's abodes because of the trees. And across the laneway from my cabin is vacant bushland of probably about 10 acres. And the nearest neighbour over the way at the front end of this property is way away...and I have no idea what the house looks like...I've never seen it. There's a huge, dense, high hedge surrounding the properties over that way. And to the right of me the people who live there on parcel of land of about six acres built there house right at the very end of the block on the escarpment....and to get to their house....I have to drive my car...and I've done that three times in 13 years! lol
So, in a shorter version...I have no nearby neighbours! ;)
Well that's interesting Lee but I am not sure how my post sparked that response. Could you explain?
DeleteThe following caused my response, Yorky: "There was a woman in the little group - Chris - who has a pilot's licence and flies a Cessna on pleasure trips around the east of England. That is the viewpoint for many of her photographs. But back in the pub-restaurant she told a disturbing story of persecution by "bad" neighbours who had been instrumental in getting her arrested on three occasions. It seemed like something out of a television drama - especially the bit about being threatened with a gun - when she recorded the whole incident on a mobile phone to play back to the police as evidence of her tormentors' malice. Ah well, I guess we all have problems!"
DeleteSilly me! Of course that is what sparked your response. Maybe I am becoming one who needs to be supervised by a carer!
DeleteHahahahahaha! I must admit you had me concerned there for a bit! lol
DeleteI think you all look very shady to me too. Plotting to fill in something. Puns intended and probably very contrived.
ReplyDeletePlotting to fill in my tummy with lamb and spring cabbage.
DeleteAt last!! A pub that has not closed its doors, maybe the prices have something to do with that. It must have been an interesting day; meeting new people, even if you do have a common interest, can sometimes be a bit daunting.
ReplyDeleteI am pleased you are back on the outdoor trail again and posting more great photographs and their stories.
Ms Soup
Daunting? Yes you are right but as in many things the reality did not justify the earlier trepidation.
Delete