The Fox is in a black mood. His country cousins in the British Isles should be enjoying Saturday afternoons in their cozy dens, cradling bottles of Guinness and watching their favorite football fixtures on the telly. Instead, they have to brave the cold and damp, to spend these afternoons outfoxing packs of mangy mutts and their clarty handlers, riding hayburners. Furthermore, today is Durga Puja, and Goddess Durga is not to be seen; perhaps excused because she is off in Dhankuta giving badly needed blessings to her family members.

On the other hand, it is a clear, sunny day with the temperature perfect for running. A surprising number of harriers have foregone greasy noon meals to grace Towed Hall. The pack is off a little after 1500 hours, Lazy Towed guiding the walkers along pink paper while our other hares jog around watching people wander off course. Paper heads south along the motor road to some strange eastern European symbol marking the first check. The false trail is straight ahead, but the paper heads left. Those descending to the right are ordered back lest they stumble onto the home trail. They fall for the trap and miss a short jog back to the beer. Paper crosses the Bungamati road and heads backwards along a Tuesday run route, only to end with an X (confused hares?). A kind hare stands at the turn down to the right and soon the pack is into cut paddy fields only to find two smarter "walkers," Cathy and Jessica (C&J), sitting at holding check 2. The little people, perhaps with inside knowledge, head down, while Hurry Krishna goes straight on, finding paper to check 3. Paper heads down between houses, to the Pipal Tree (one of 1,000 on the course) and another check, before heading down to the Nakhu Khola and the "used to be" bamboo bridge. C&J head upstream, more or less parallel to pink paper, making the most of the season's last chance for a swim.

By now the Fox has run through two false trails from check 3, sure that there has to be something worthwhile beyond such careful protection. There is -- a super shortcut -- but the Fox sees runners splashing across the Nakhu river and heading up the stone steps to Loachowk. He takes the bait and heads downhill collecting assorted sticky seeds, to cross the stream a couple of extra times before he sees the pack heading south along the irrigation ditch below Keeled Kottage and the Grumblewald Mansion. He heads up to the ditch but by then the pack has disappeared, for a quick visit to the above mentioned residences (where is the beer?) and out to the Chapagaon road. The trail heads back to the top of the valley and a check. The Fox, still charging along the irrigation ditch, finds paper just as the front runners hit the check, so briefly leads to the next check, where the next road crosses the ditch. He is onto a good system so continues on the ditch to the next road at the old brick works, and, yes, another check. He starts to check downhill but sees the pack heading up from the last check to make another upward loop.

On one of these loops, Etienne abandons the pack to head towards Chapagaon. He is sick of seeing ripening rice and probably looking for wheat fields. He eventually gives up and finds the pack.

The Fox continues south while the pack charges down to the brick-works check and continues down to find paper, while the Fox finds himself surrounded by rice with no easy way out. The pack charges down to the river, and up to a holding check at the First Bungamati Tree. Paper follows another irrigation ditch north, but drops towards Kokana before again turning north to climb to the same ditch for a run home.

Even Grumblewald had trouble finding something to complain about, so the pack granted the hares a 9.9 score.

Many thanks to the Towed Under and Karen's kitchen crews, and Eveready, for super snacks, and to Duckbill for putting up with assorted mutts and handlers on her very own territory.

Commentary:

The gospel according to The Fox, with very minor corrections. His run account is of his run, not the one the Hares set!

Towed