Playing tricks on people

[kay]

p.s. You could be forgiven for thinking I intended to set the cat on the mice, but I was thinking more in terms of replacing my undersuit. (102 uses etc.)

If the cat had been hungry for some time, it's not likely to be in very good condition. You'd be better off with a well-fed (but not obese) cat.

 

[Brains]

Some interesting points being made... Personally, I usually make prople aware of potential hazards like the stone thing - forewarned is forearmed! I have done the kneeling in a pool thing at the backend of White Scar to good effect - you wouldnt be there without already being wet through.  In Giants Crabwalk there are a couple of small windows throughthe meanders, and to peer thru and/ or shake hands usualy gets a giggle...

 

[Rachel]

p.s. You could be forgiven for thinking I intended to set the cat on the mice, but I was thinking more in terms of replacing my undersuit. (102 uses etc.)

If the cat had been hungry for some time, it's not likely to be in very good condition. You'd be better off with a well-fed (but not obese) cat.

Wouldn't you need quite a few cats to make a decent sized undersuit?

 

[Rachel]

I once inadvertantly played a trick on someone...

Coming out of the Marble Steps shakehole, I found that while it had been warm and toastie underground, on the surface it was darker than in the cave and the wind was howling across the moor. The grass was rather long, so I decided to lie down out of the wind and spent a pleasant half hour gazing at the stars. The next thing I knew, my mate who had been a fair way behind me in the cave had tripped over me and lay across my legs, screaming his head off. My first thought was that he'd broken something, but it turned out that he thought he'd found a corpse!

 

[Downer]

p.s. You could be forgiven for thinking I intended to set the cat on the mice, but I was thinking more in terms of replacing my undersuit. (102 uses etc.)

If the cat had been hungry for some time, it's not likely to be in very good condition. You'd be better off with a well-fed (but not obese) cat.

Thank you Kay. That's a useful tip. I do have access to a very large hairy old mog who is waterproof enough to lie out in the pouring rain (though on reflection, this may be simple stupidity). How does one glue a cat over a hole in a fleece undersuit? And should I wait for him to die first?

 

[wormster]

I've had plenty of tricks played on me and played tricks on others (above ground)

The odd silly prank, like sitting down in the first of the double pots in Swildons and dumping it on the person in front of you is just about acceptable, but anything else is just plan nasty and shouldn't be done.

 

[kay]

Thank you Kay. That's a useful tip. I do have access to a very large hairy old mog who is waterproof enough to lie out in the pouring rain (though on reflection, this may be simple stupidity).

Quite unconnected - I've noticed that wet cats don't seem to appreciate being dried with a towel. I think it's because it's only their outer fur that is wet, and they don't realise they're wet until you start drying them and press the water into their inner fur. To test out this theory, I've tried drying them by rubbing against the lie of the fur, so that their fur fluffs up, and they seem to tolerate this a lot more.

How does one glue a cat over a hole in a fleece undersuit?

You put the cat on the outside a) because you want the fur facing in b) because there's not a lot of room for you in the undersuit if you have a cat glued on the inside

And should I wait for him to die first?

Usually advisable. Otherwise, when you come to don your undersuit, you find it's not where you left it, it's half way up a tree in pursuit of a blackbird.

 

[Downer]

And should I wait for him to die first?

Usually advisable. Otherwise, when you come to don your undersuit, you find it's not where you left it, it's half way up a tree in pursuit of a blackbird.

Not halfway down a hole in pursuit of a mouse? I wouldn't mind that at all. Oh well, you're the expert. Of course, it wouldn't be an undersuit any more would it? It would be a catsuit  8)

 

[ditzy 24//7]

i dont even like my face getting wet let alone diving a sump so well done viv b for doing that.
I think that joke that was played was cruel for a first time sump diving but could be seen as funny to have it played on a exsperienced person who has done the sump many times before.
Ther only jokes i have played is getting someone to stant the other side of a well and thrown a rock in and splashed them and jumped out from behind rocks luckily this is seen as funny by thoes concerned.
I have had the jokre by the goatchurch coffinlid played on m a few times and found it funny though it could bee seen as a potential to become out of hand if someone jumps and slips.

 

[ttxela]

Not caving related at all but one of the best practical jokes I've seen was played on a joker who was getting on everyones nerves. We were working in the hospital mortuary doing some redecorating and electrical work and one of the electricians was a keen practical joker who everyone was getting fed up with.
The place had been emptied and cleared out for us but looking around some of the chaps noted that the mortuary drawers for the bodies were open inside, each drawer didn't go into it's own compartment it was just an open space. while the joker was out getting something, the other electrician lay in one of the drawers and it was closed with him inside. When the joker came back he was told his mate had gone out to get some materials and the suggestion made that a joke be played on him when he came back by hiding in one of the drawers and someone opening it at the right time for him to jump out at his mate. The drawer was opened next to where the other electrician was already positioned, of course it was totally dark inside and the joker laid down and the drawer was closed. After a suitable pause the other electrician simply reached across in the darkness and placed his hand on his mate.
The resulting screaming and banging was certainly impressive.

Possibly we went too far.......... the victim was a self confessed fan of practical jokes though.

 

[ken]

Tricks and jokes....love em.
We were in a meander in a small cave with very good and experienced caver's and didn't know the cave (first time in). At one point we got somewhat separated (taking Pict's) and the others went on. The cave "Y'ed" at one point with the correct way being roughly 3 meters up over the choke.
The friends of course went this way, laying behind the choke and lighting a tiny crawl through saying we did it, now you.
needless to say after 15 minutes of trying all possibilities and getting stuck  twice, they then showed us the way between laughing and backslapping.
So yes, a little fun in the correct measure can enjoyable.

 

[whitelackington]

Quote

Coral Cave,
near Axbridge,
in this cave,
in 1938,
some friends of Gerard Platten were alarmed to find a sheep dressed in a boiler suit leaning against the wall, dead.

Nice to know that Mister Platten had a sense of humour, even in the grim 1930's.
I wonder if any sheep were harmed in the execution of this prank 

 

[clunk]

Not caving related at all but one of the best practical jokes I've seen was played on a joker who was getting on everyones nerves. We were working in the hospital mortuary doing some redecorating and electrical work and one of the electricians was a keen practical joker who everyone was getting fed up with.
The place had been emptied and cleared out for us but looking around some of the chaps noted that the mortuary drawers for the bodies were open inside, each drawer didn't go into it's own compartment it was just an open space. while the joker was out getting something, the other electrician lay in one of the drawers and it was closed with him inside. When the joker came back he was told his mate had gone out to get some materials and the suggestion made that a joke be played on him when he came back by hiding in one of the drawers and someone opening it at the right time for him to jump out at his mate. The drawer was opened next to where the other electrician was already positioned, of course it was totally dark inside and the joker laid down and the drawer was closed. After a suitable pause the other electrician simply reached across in the darkness and placed his hand on his mate.
The resulting screaming and banging was certainly impressive.

Possibly we went too far.......... the victim was a self confessed fan of practical jokes though.

Excellent. I would of loved to of seen that.

 

[gus horsley]

I can remember a not-at-all funny prank when we did a trip into Dismal Hill Cave during the 1960s.  We had climbed the pitch and were going through the low bedding at the bottom when one guy started saying "Oh God, the roof's crushing me!"  I wasn't sure if he was joking as he was quite experienced but he became more and more panicked.  Eventually another member of the party sheepishly declared that he'd spiked his drink with LSD when we were getting changed.  We made a slow and surreal exit from the cave.

 

[Downer]

I can remember a not-at-all funny prank when we did a trip into Dismal Hill Cave during the 1960s.  We had climbed the pitch and were going through the low bedding at the bottom when one guy started saying "Oh God, the roof's crushing me!"  I wasn't sure if he was joking as he was quite experienced but he became more and more panicked.  Eventually another member of the party sheepishly declared that he'd spiked his drink with LSD when we were getting changed.  We made a slow and surreal exit from the cave.

Don't agree about it being a "not-at-all funny prank".  Bashing someone's hat as they come out of a sump is a prank, foolish and mean but still a prank.
Dropping a trip on someone is not a prank, not by any stretch of the imagination. It's just an unprovoked assault, extremely serious and often described as psychological rape. It is also a serious crime and, whilst a small part of me is thinking "Surely you're kidding, nobody would be that stupid", if this story is true, I trust you reported the perp to the police. What a walker.

 

[gus horsley]

The perp was excommunicated from our club.  I think he eventually took up another, less prankish hobby.

 

[cap n chris]

Gus, did your club used to have a Matienzo Inquisition, then?

 

[Elaine]

Some of the 'tricks' played on people mentioned here are not my (nor others by the sound of it) idea of fun. I had much milder things in mind when I originally started this topic. Not things like trying to scare people whilst they are negotiating slippery climbs, nor making them think they are about to drown.

No, I was thinking of light hearted little things to make you remember things with a smile.

For example, someone (never did find out who) put a fake skull in the bottom of our dig just after it started flooding on a regular basis. Most of us picked it up at one time or another thinking 'what's this floating rock?' It made us all jump a little bit, but it was obvious it was a fake one. Anyone who had a dodgy heart would never have made the long climb up the ladder to get back out anyway, skull or no skull!

Little yellow plastic ducks also appeared one week swimming around at the bottom.

 

[paul]

Or when you get to the cave entrance after carrying a particlularly heavy tackle sack and then find the rocks inside...

I remember a trip down Notts Pot many years ago on ladders. As I was climbing up the "Double Bucket" pitch I looked up to see my mate Mike pulling the lifline in hand over hand! I was only when I got to the ledge and found that the real lifeliner was safely ensconsed in a dip behind Mike and was of course tending to the lifeline "properly" did I see the funny side...

 

[Downer]

Gus, did your club used to have a Matienzo Inquisition, then?

I wouldn't call it inquisitorial. We're talking about dosing someone with a major psychotropic drug that can make the most awe-inspiring (or terrifying) caving trip seem as exciting as a cheese sandwich in comparison.