Why I Love Pokemon Go?

Before you judge me, read on!

For the last two weeks, our two booklets (now aged 19 and almost 16) have been talking a lot about this whole pokemon go thing.

It's been lovely for two reasons.

One, over the past year or so, they actually haven't been bonding very well (B19 is oblivious to this problem which is, of course, part of the problem), however pokemon go has become a thing that has brought them together again. It's a tad competitive as they compare how many pokemon they have, their combat power (CP) and what rare ones they've managed to catch, but they're talking nicely to each other and they seem to enjoy sharing their tips and hints and adventures with each other.

Two, in the middle of our recent winter school holidays, when it turned really cold, B16 spent several hours each day, outside, walking and exploring our local area in an attempt to catch more pokemon. He still can't tell me the names of any of the local parks, despite visiting them several times for pokestops, but he at least knows that all these little parks now exist!

Over the past two weeks there has been lots of social media coverage (good and bad) about the pokemon go phenomenon. During the week, a young customer in our bookshop, caught two pokemon. Her excitement was contagious and we had a lovely chat about how many, what kinds and where.

So this weekend I decided to find out for myself what all the fuss was about.

B19 gave me a quick lesson on how to catch pokemon and what all the various symbols and icons in the app meant.

With this little bit of knowledge, a healthy dose of scepticism and a little bit of embarrassment, I headed off into the wilds of Balmain yesterday to find me some pokemon!

The first thing I had to do was stock up on some balls at a pokestop. Fortunately we have a park nearby with about five pokestops in it. You need the balls to catch pokemon. Pokemon with small CP levels can usually be caught with your first ball, as long as your aim is accurate.

My first couple of captures used up several balls, but once I got the hang of it, it was easy.

Pokemon with high CP are good if you want to do a battle in a pokemon gym. There are about four or five gyms in my suburb.

On my first pokemon walk though, I didn't have enough pokemon or a high enough level to do anything with the gyms.

After 45 mins, I came home with about 12 pokemon in my bag and a stack of balls up my sleeve!

Later on in the afternoon, we had to do a trip to the airport. Mr Books was driving - lets be clear about that upfront! After seeing a few people in the street catching pokemon, I wondered if you could also catch pokemon in the car. Turns out you can!

There was quite a bit of traffic on the road to the airport and we weren't moving very fast - I not only stocked up on loads of pokeballs and other icons, but I also caught quite a few pokemon.

On Sundays, I walked to B16's soccer game. It's an hour walk around the bay - the perfect way to spend a wintry Sunday afternoon. Today I also caught a few pokemon along the way.

I learnt that the higher the CP value of the pokemon, the harder it is to actually catch them. Several of today's captures actually had to be caught two or three times before they stayed caught!

I also saw lots of families with young children and small groups of tweenies walking and cycling around together capturing pokemon.

I learnt that there are no pokespots in schools or in front of people's homes.

When B16 learnt that I had been pokemoning this weekend, he was thrilled. He asked to see what I had caught and was impressed that I had caught a rare-ish Electabuzz. He explained about lures and showed me that there was one just around the corner.

We looked at each other, quickly put on our shoes and headed off into the cold wintry evening to catch more pokemon.

A lure, lures rarer pokemons to a certain area for half an hour. We caught a couple before the lure vanished.

We decided to keep walking to see what we could see.

And this is the main reason why I love pokemon go.

For the first time in months, B16 and I spent a wonderful, relaxed, easy hour together. We walked and talked and explored. We laughed and bonded and caught stacks of pokemon together.

I learnt that before they released the app, pokemon sent out teams of photographers around the world to take photos of all the plaques, signs and monuments that feature in the pokestops. And I levelled up enough to join a team. B16 and I are now on the same team :-)

We had a lovely evening. And we plan to do it again tomorrow after we finish work and school.

Once upon a time, families sat around the dinner table playing card games and scrabble and monopoly together.
Now, if you play your cards right, you can now spend time having the same kind of fun with your modern teenagers by playing pokemon go together.

And you can get some exercise together at the same time.

(Updates & new information about the game stats are included in the comments below.)

Pride and Prejudice - from the sublime to the ridiculous!

My final post for Austen in August is firstly a HUGE thank you to Adam for hosting this incredible event. A whole month devoted to reading, thinking, talking and blogging about JA has been simply delightful.

And secondly I want to share a few bibs and bobs about JA and tie up a few loose ends.

A few weeks ago I discovered there is a Jane Austen app from the Jane Austen Centre where you can receive a random JA quote a day. It's a lovely way to start the day :-)

At the recent Sydney Writer's festival I went to a talk devoted to all things JA, but particularly all about Pride and Prejudice.

Susannah Fullerton was one of the speakers.

Susannah is the President of the Jane Austen Society in Australia and has written a gorgeous book called Happily Ever After: Celebrating Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

The book is jam packed with quotes, illustrations & photos. A whole chapter is devoted to the famous first lines of P & P.
We discover that P&P has been used as therapy throughout the generations - in the trenches of WW1 & into the bomb shelters of WW2.
Fullerton explores the various BBC series, movie versions & spin-offs are discussed as are the prequels, the sequels, adaptations and spoofs.

Which leads me to my last JA book for the month.

Pride and Prejudice and Kitties: A Cat Lovers Romp Through Jane Austen's Classic by Pamela Jane and Deborah Guyol.
I suspect the title is enough to give you a pretty good idea of what follows, but here are the opening lines just in case you need more information....

"Netherfield Park is marked at last." 
The news caused much romping at the Bennet household for, as every cat knows, a handsome young tom in possession of his own territory must be in want of a mate.
"What a fine thing it would be for any of our five kittens to catch a rich mouse-I mean spouse," said Mrs Bennet."

I'm so glad this readalong prompted me to read Mansfield Park again. Melissa at Avid Reader's Musings hosted a group for those of us (about 10) reading MP which provided further incentive and interest. You can read Melissa's final post here.

It has been wonderful to read all of Adam's posts as well as trolling through all the links over at the master post (as of this morning there were 95 links).

My parting words are thanks to Lizzie and pretty much describe my lifelong love affair with Jane Austen.

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."