First attempt at action filming

It's not something I see myself doing on a regular basis, but there have been a few occasions when I have thought "wouldn't it have been good to have filmed that?" but my hands were too busy grabbing handlebars, pulling me through a tunnel or gripping a dog sled so I was unable to hold my camera. Typical that the most exciting moments are also the times when my hands aren't free! I decided to invest in a cheap action camera to see if it's something worth pursuing. I'd say that I don't do enough interesting or thrill-seeking stuff to make it worth my while to buy a better one.

Today, biking in the New Forest, I thought I'd take it out for its first spin, with varying degrees of success!

Problems I've encountered include:

• Incredibly poor audio - part and parcel of buying a cheap model
• Inaccurate time - for some reason the time carries on from when it was last switched on!
• Wrong angle - There was only one place where I could attach it to my helmet but that meant that the angle was too high and so to see the road I had to look down the whole time which was a little impractical, if not dangerous
• Seasickness - partly my filming, partly the nature of trying to use it when juddering up and down on gravel. Perhaps the issue could have been resolved by attaching the camera to the handlebars, but I don't know it would have made a huge amount of difference (but at least it would probably be pointing  the right direction!)

In all honesty, I think this little gadget will live in a cupboard doing nothing most of the time. I might get it out for the odd interesting event where holding a camera is inappropriate and I certainly want to take it to Go Ape but I'm not expecting decent footage any more!

May the Fourth be with you!

Groundspeak decided to celebrate 4th May with its tenth World Wide Flash Mob, an event I've never previously attended for whatever reason. But today, being a free Saturday I committed to two out of three reasonably close 15-minute events to celebrate the occasion and earn yet another souvenir for my profile. 

A flash mob event is a quick sudden gathering of people for a common purpose who before the predetermined time act naturally. At the given moment though, there is suddenly a mass gathering of apparent strangers, much to the bemusement of those not in on it - in this case muggles. For several years now Groundspeak has proposed dates when the whole geocaching community should do this type of event and that's what makes it a world wide thing. We might not all be meeting at precisely the same moment (not really fair given the time zones) but we all come together on that calendar date.

So the May the Fourth bit made the theme of a Star Wars nature although having still never watched the films, I am merely drawing upon what little I know to see me through all the references. All the films are on my bucket list but I would rather borrow than buy them just in case I don't enjoy them. 

Thanks Bernie for hosting the first this morning at 9am (not early for me! I had a nice hour's lie-in this morning!) with the blustery wind and a nice view out across the Solent. Plenty turned up - a fair number of trackables to log, new faces (as ever!) to see, as well as old ones. And a queue for the log book. Much the same later on at 1:15pm for Mellers' second WWFM event of the day, this one with a rather delicious cake theme! It was also good to spend time doing normal geocaching with FfiLli after the first event. Always makes a welcome change to cache in the company of others, although there are pros and cons to caching alone.

Next significant event... the West Midlands Mega!