Run 1160

Monday 15 July 2013

The Jolly Coopers, Flitton

Hares: Ringer and Pussies Galore

HASHERS: 16

Since I would be away at Gilwell Park in the company of 4,000 teenage Explorer Scouts at the weekend and so unable to join the Summer Very Posh Nosh, I was 'volunteered' to lay run 1160 on the Monday. Hash Matchmaker Double Entry said "Pussies can give you a hand." And so it was that myself, Pussies Galore and as-yet-unnamed-Dave set out in the blazing afternoon sun a week or so previous to recce a trail. I had a general plan in mind but wanted to check that plan-as-it-appears-on-the-map and plan-as-it-works-in-reality agreed; needless to say they didn't. What appeared as a pristine footpath on the map turned out to be impassible. So we had to backtrack and start designing plan B. Recce complete, but weary and footsore, we trudged back to the pub with our thoughts on a nice cooling beer (think Ice Cold in Alex), only to find the pub didn't open for another 45 mins. This was not going well – at least in the film they finally got their beer.

A post-recce review of Plan B, with distance measurement, refined Plan B into Plan C which was what was delivered on the night. I thought it might have been a bit short, but the stately progress of the H5 pack ensured that the hour was filled nicely.

Limp argued that the pub is not actually in Flitton, but in Wardhedges, which is geographically correct, but WTF is Wardhedges?

Nik-Nak arrived fashionably late, a risky strategy on this occasion as Pongo had her running shoes in his car. However she arrived just in time to try and mow down the pack exiting the car park as she turned into it. The pub car park as we left it was beginning to fill up with some pricey motors, including his-and-hers Jags in British Racing Green (was John Prescott about somewhere?) not to mention the motor with the DEL 80Y numberplate.

Preferring to use very long false trails rather than number checks to keep the pack together, the FRBs, notably Depth Charge, Shufflecock and Count Roadkill, were often distant dots on the horizon before trudging back to catch up with the rest of us. Some high cloud kept the blazing sun off nicely for the run (thanks RAs) and the run was a very pleasant amble around the surrounds of Flitton and alongside the River Flit itself. The only 5-to-the-back fishhook caught out not only the FRBs, but also Lady P and Pongo, both of whom initially declined to about turn, but faced with an insistent hare, were obliged to acquiesce.

How The RA Did 1160

Back at the pub, the nice-little-motor fleet in the car park had been joined by a Roller, so the Circle was in keeping with the class of the parked audience. The Reverends Depth Charge and Capt F both had observations to be made about hashers' sins various. We started with lost property from Summer Very Posh Nosh (a tankard and Dave's hat) and moved on to Capt F's pet dislike, isms, punished using the 'throat enema' device (you're not supposed to blow guys). Other down-downs were marked, also noting en route the Deca mug award for Lady Chatterley. Most unusually, when Fat Controller's legs set off on their spontaneous down-down dance, beer escaped his tankard and settled on those in the Circle. Bad FC!!! Double Entry was presented with a very well-deserved bunch of flowers for her stupendous efforts at SPN. Finally, Dave was careless and 'lost' his hat for the second time in 5 minutes.

And thanks to my co-hare who kept careful track of the back of the Knitting Circle for me.

On-On to The Royal Oak at Barton-le-Clay next week.

Ringer & Pussies