At last, a north side run

The excellent directions (“somewhere near the St Patrick’s Day run”, probably held around 1985), did not manage to deter a goodly crowd as everyone (except the GM and Keeled Over who seemed to be sick of hashing or something) returned from their Dashain holidays filled with enthusiasm.
The usual Run Crafty briefing was interrupted by a number of latecomers – Bruce, Connie, Griot, Aki and Yoshi – so was even less comprehensible than usual. Eight checks were established, with 4 and 7 holding. Other than that little else was divulged other than a pointed finger indicating the direction in which to find the first paper. Unfortunately the trail for the walkers split straight away with no indication that this was the case, so half the pack headed off in the wrong direction right from the start.

As the pack struggled to find their way to Check 1 it became clear that the ozone layer was to be protected on this run. Paper was scarce, to say the least, and it was fortunate that all the paddy had been cut so the pack could roam fairly freely. With this happening, it was actually quite difficult to establish who the FRBs were. Checks 1 and 2 were eventually found, with runners and walkers stumbling on Check 2 at more or less the same time.
Grumblewald and Towed ran past Check 3 without even noticing it and it would appear that others managed to find the back check without going that far. Soon Holding Check 4 was encountered in the middle of a village and, once Run Crafty had arrived, soft drinks and beer were handed out. Two beer checks in two weeks is a bit much for the average HHH Harrier to deal with. It was also here that certain concerns about Run Crafty’s ability to guide the walkers first surfaced, as half of them simply failed to appear.

Across another valley and off up towards the ridge behind Gokarna. Grumble and Towed wandered off again on their own search for paper whilst the rest of the pack were guided by Leech Screech in roughly the right direction. Clearly further direction was required as by the time they rejoined Grumble and Towed they were being led from Check 5 by Leech Screech. From here, we were firmly trespassing on Lao Lover’s territory (where are they??). Check 6 was a sneaky little back check with the trail winding its way upwards through a selection of back yards to Holding Check 7 on the ridge.

From here it was possible to see the beer, but unfortunately there was no route heading straight back. The trail looped round to the north before heading straight down, past Run C’s favourite temple, Check 8 and On-Home in only two hours or so.

Eventually all except Apple were back in and, in the gathering gloom, the circle was called to order. This was only possible due to the fact that Itchy Balls was trying to leave early and guiding his car through the as yet unformed circle. A swift down-down was administered whilst the pack worked out what a circle looked like. The Hares were then hauled in for their judgement, but the circle was a little reticent in offering comment on the run, although the scarcity of paper may just have been commented on. Eventually Grumblewald offered a very reasonable 9.9.

Virgins Kanako Kishi from the Melamchi saga, here on a 2 week visit just to check she needn’t rush back to see the action, and Meri-Kay, who was nominated by nameless individuals as the power behind the throne in the US Embassy were in the process of being welcomed by the Stand In GM when Towed Under interrupted with advice on how to run the circle. Swift discipline was administered before the virgins were allowed to explain themselves fully and enjoy their down-downs. Absentee virgins, the van Manen family (Jan, Lisette, Hugo and Bastian) managed to avoid the really enjoyable bit of the hash (Rotter wasn’t running the circle) by leaving early, as did returnees Sheila and Dave Stum.

Other returnees, Connie and Tash, were braver than the rest and stayed to be welcomed back. (Also because their respective transport providers had absolutely no intention of leaving before the last drop was drunk.)
It was then noticed that Itchy Balls, who had prompted the start of the proceedings by trying to leave early was still present. Discipline was administered with a sharp remainder that he should be off (clearly effective as he was still around for the award of the Hashit).

Other notables were:

And finally, the award of the Hashit. Leech Screech was invited into the circle to explain exactly who had set which bits of the run and why, then, the Hares did not look after the bits of the run that each had set. Not to mention her performance in managing the runners, especially the bits where she actually has to give instructions in a loud voice. However, a more worthwhile candidate was found in the form of Griot, whose manic mutt managed to pick an argument with every other mutt on the hash.

Griot managed to make some amends by volunteering to Hare next week’s run before social drinking was called for.

Thanks to Handphun, Ever Ready and Towed Under for the nosh and to the Hares for conserving valuable rain forest resources.

Oh, and a small post-script. Bloody Knees Bruce, proud owner of a brand new very second hand Maruti Gypsy, had to be pushed up the hill on the way out of the site. Sounds like an up-up for him next week.