The top news today as I walked to the gym (on Capital FM, we’re not talking serious news here) was the treasure hunt going on at Folkstone Beach. As part of the Folkstone Triennial a German artist has buried £10,000 of gold across the beach, and if you find it, you keep it. They’ve also buried washers to confuse metal detectors and make the whole thing a bit more interesting. It’s called “Participation Art” (or something like that).

It got me thinking about an amazing book which I had when I was little, so I decided to look it up and remind myself of it. The book is Masquerade by Kit Williams, and it’s the story of Jack Hare, who is a messenger for the Moon, carrying a token of her love to the Sun. When he gets there, at the end of the book, he finds that he’s lost it somewhere. The cool thing? Kit Williams made a trinket which he then hid somewhere in Britain, and the key to finding it was the book.

By the time I read the book, the treasure had of course already been found, and the solution is on the Wikipedia page for anyone interested. I think the idea of a treasure hunt like this is so romantic, particularly the so-called “arm chair treasure hunts” like Masquerade. The beauty and complexity of the pictures is amazing and stimulating to any enquiring mind. It’s puzzles like these which have probably lead to me being such a lover of things like The Crimson Room and it’s successors. Recently Boyfriend came across a real-life locked room game in Leeds, called Tick Tock Unlock, and I can’t wait to try that as well. Life is really one big treasure hunt anyway.