Run 895 - East Hagbourne
Run: 895
Date: Tuesday, 6 October 2009
Venue: Fleur de Lys, East Hagbourne
Hare(s): Gnome Alone & Eric
Hounds: Golden Shower, Twitcher, Plod, Bootsy. CS Gas, S/Shoveller. Penelope Pit-stop, Rubber Sole, Preperation H, Hairy Biker, Baby Driver, Big Stiffy, Lemony Snicket, Buzz, Rear Admiral
Scribe: Plod
Boy, are these evenings closing in! We were almost in total darkness before we left the car-park! The weather was mild but the threat of rain was there the whole time. The briefing was nice and simple Not a long run, 3 and ON. It was laid in the dark and over 2 bags of flower were used. The significance of that last statement became obvious very quickly after the On was given. But mustn’t get ahead of myself. Bootsy was early – no prizes for guessing who was late. I think the K-9 (Poppy, is it) who like Nelly likes to pull and was good at it, was pulling the car as it came into the car park on two wheels sending hashers running for their lives.
The On was left out of the pub, and we did meander around the village for quite a few minutes – maybe he who speaks with a forked tongue was for once being honest. But not so. Progress was slow - painfully slow. There didn’t seem to be much enthusiasm tonight. There were bursts from Golden Shower and one or two others – S/Shoveller for one – in fact we didn’t see much of either of them. After an initial burst by Hairy Biker, Lemony Snicket and Big Stiffy, most settled down to walking with the rest of us. Or was it the two bags of flour???
The checks were a work of art. Perfect circles – how did you do it guys. In fact, if it hadn’t been for them, we might have had to abandon the trail. I think the blobs of flour actually seen numbered about 10. Where the two bags came into it was the fresh markings put out by Gnome Alone tonight. What the pair of them did in the dark didn’t include laying the trail! Oh there were the usual excuses: the leaves, the rain, the dark . . .
And so aimlessly we wandered around the country side – no, I’ll retract that. We visited the Didcot Millennium Wood/Nature Reserve, went into Didcot and then came back into Hagbourne, via a lot of loops. It took us an hour and a half. Most of the On’s were called by the Hares – who very quickly cottoned on to the general lack of enthusiasm. Some hounds lost their sense of humour (What b*****d says I have a sense of humour, was one snappy answer when challenged on the subject). One got hungry and bought chips in a fish and chip shop.
I was sorely tempted to revive the Down-down custom – we could have had a Mr Sloppy marathon session tonight. It would have been a pint of water for each of the Hares, a half beer for Twitcher for the loss of sense of humour, another half beer for CS for the chips, a half beer for athletic over-achievement for Golden Shower and S/Shoveller (well, down-downs are meant to be a punishment aren’t they?), and a pint for the suffering rest. But no Hash Cash, and the stand-in Hash Cash didn’t have the cash-box. And my pension doesn’t stretch that far!!!
The chips. Slightly overdone but plenty of them. Nice condiments. Plenty of Mayo too – and we didn’t have to ask. I don’t think there were any left over this week. A discussion did take pace about a possible point scoring system for the chips. A good idea, thought I. But then the subsequent discussion turned to what is a chip and what isn’t. Is a wedge a chip? Well maybe, but not if ‘s got the skin on, according to some. Hey come on guys. Decisions. Decisions. Not at that time of night.
Tonight’s distance? Not a long run said the Hare with the forked tongue. Twitcher only had 4.8 miles on his GPS thingy!!!
Next week we’re at The Anchor in Abingdon. Parking is limited, but if Oxford can cope, then surely we will. This is the final Tuesday run of 2009, we’ll be going on to the alternate Sundays, starting with Sunday, 18 October when we’re at Hampstead Norries. See you at Abingdon.
Plod