How it started: How it’s going
This is Jane. She’s my oldest and best pal. She’s clever, hilarious, sensitive and strong. She has great hair too. She home-educated her four children, is a former member of Mensa, runs her own publishing business and is an experienced editor and proof-reader. She’s also a Beatles fan, which is significant, because that’s how we met over 40 years ago, and this is what led from that day to this, and the development of PinPoint, our new, exciting project and labour of love.
Just four months after John Lennon was shot, Jane placed a classified ad in the Beatles Monthly magazine, asking for Beatles penfriends. As a massive fan of the Fab Four, I replied, along with dozens of other teen fans. We wrote back and forth for months and years, started to meet up- awkwardly at first, like many teenagers. We became friends with each other’s families, stayed for weekends. Of all her correspondents, somehow I was the one that lasted.
We each left home, went to university, got married, had kids and so on and and so on. We stayed in touch, but less often, such is the busy-ness of family life. Stuff happened.
Gradually our time began to become our own again. We met for lunch, she came to my band‘s first gig, we Facebooked, we texted and our friendship moved into a new, adult, digital age. It became clear, to me at least, that we had far more in common than just The Beatles. We shared a love of language and technology, beer and the obscure, film and quirk. We camped, gigged, laughed and drank. We also geocached together. When we hung out , inevitably I’d suggest a spot of caching- well why not? This appealed to the home educator in Jane, as a problem-solving, practical and self-led activity. Jane became curlyshirley! We’d pick up a couple on city visits, take in a circular pub walk when I visited and, just before lockdown, we went to the Beethoven Mega in Bonn, along with The Amasons, sponge_3 and PennyRose123.
We also plotted. We often talked about crazy projects that we’d enjoy being involved in. Jane, by this time, was developing Eyrie Press, her own CIC publishing house. She was a qualified and experienced editor and proofreader, and a designer in a print business.
I was by now deeply and obsessively into geocaching. I’d moved on from someone who did a spot every now and then, to a serious and dedicated player, organising camping weekends, caching in Africa and China, taking part in day trips to Dublin. I started the Facebook group ‘Clever Caches‘, sharing creative cache ideas around the world. I collected geocoins. I recorded segments for The Podcache Show and Podcacher. I planned statistic-heavy road trips with ever more elaborate spreadsheets. And I wrote.
Writing for pleasure was a new joy for me. I’d spent years of my career writing reports, bids, newsletters and web pages. I started to write about geocaching, guesting in blogs such as The Geocaching Junkie and Peanuts or Pretzels. I wrote articles for The UK Cache Mag which led to further conversations with Jane about possible print projects. One of her ideas was to put my various articles and blog posts into a book, with each piece forming a chapter. As the Cache Mag stalled, we made an approach to takeover the publication. This lead to nothing, however. The magazine was re-launched and we both got involved in the UK Mega 2022 event in Lincolnshire, me as a committee member, Jane designing the logo and programme, among other things.
When the Mega was over, I felt a bit restless. This giant undertaking, complicated by Covid, had dominated my free time for months and months. I missed having a project; I missed the partnership and the chance to create something for the geocaching community. Jane again encouraged me to do something with my writing and so, with her guidance, I started this blog. Initially, I just populated it with articles which I’d had published elsewhere, but then began, in fits and starts, to add to it, mining my thoughts and opinions. I wasn’t blogging frequently, and went for much of 2021 without a new post, before starting again. I enjoyed having a reason to write, the flexibility of the form and its immediacy.
The we heard the news that the UK Cache Mag had sadly, and finally, folded. As soon as I mentioned this to Jane, she said, ‘We should do this!’ And so began a feverish period of brainstorming and discussion. What would it be? What would we say? Who would read it? One thing we decided very early in was that we would not be simply taking over the reigns of the Cache Mag. A new start was called for and we wanted to do our own thing. We spent a few days together planning and sketching, making spreadsheets and discussing names, until we had a title, and then the project truly came to life.
We had PinPoint.
PinPoint is, for both of us, a logical culmination of our shared life and interests, our own Special Relationship and world view. PinPoint will be a quarterly print magazine, with a range of regular and exclusive features, contributions from reviewers and from Geocaching HQ, as well as competitions, letters and opinions. Our first issue will be launched with a Kickstarter campaign, starting on 21st May. I’d love you all to get involved. Sign up for more info on our homepage. If you’d like to contribute articles, letters or photos, look for the ‘write for PinPoint‘ link in the ‘top ‘Contact us’ menu. See you in print!
Andy/Tentmantent 13/4/22
