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Report 1454
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FIELD DAY FOR PONIES AND JAPANESE
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The devil seems to have been as active in Surrey as he ever was in Massachusetts. He took jumps, stepped over stones, made leaps, dug ditches, and brewed punch; but did little real mischief to our safe tranquil county. Were there witch hunts here? Or had we more sense?
Today the hares stayed clear of trouble by avoiding the bowl altogether, and taking us south, almost to Haslemere indeed, and using territory most of us had forgotten. There were ponies everywhere, in all sizes colours and shapes, in every field and paddock, and sometimes loose; but we had no stampedes to terrify our horse shy Puffer.
The checks were worthy of this distinguished, intelligent and experienced couple. This allowed our Japanese contingent to shine: first Country Bumpkin, and then when he tired Taco Bell took over, with a very impressive display of front running. Now, she found this quite tiring, which left her out of breath; but whereas Puffer's panting sounds like a torture chamber on a rather routine day, Taco Bell uses a series of ecstatic, high pitched cries which give the impression of... well, let me simply recommend it to any hasher fit and fast enough to follow her. And we also had the man in blue, silent and anonymous, but an excellent front runner; though he did allow Popeye to lead him astray, during the few moments when Popeye was actually on trail with the rest of us. Velcro too was seduced from the paths of virtue by the RA... Ah, to have such pulling power!
Our Uncle Gerry, the back check pundit, opined that one of the back trails was too far to be the solution; Dr Death, who did not overhear this sage judgment, found to the contrary. Proud of his success, and aware I was 50 yards behind him, he was later miffed to find me back at the bucket before him...
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We are a strange breed. Do you want an insight into the mind set of front runners? Our modal strike rate is about 2 or 3 checks solved per hash, but for weeks on end we may not solve any at all - it depends on the other front runners and our relative insights into the thinking of the hare(s). And also whether the fast men from Guildford are out there; it cannot be coincidence that today, when they were not, your scribe solved 4, and on the Raucous trail 8. The most consistent is Dormouse - in last week's report I omitted his brilliant solution of a check beside the railway, to be followed by a timid turning back when the trail seemed to be entering a garden. (It was, but legally.) Today he led us home via Gibbet Hill, which the hares had wished to spare us, but Suppressing the Dormouse calls for a very large teapot, seldom available to hares during a trail.
As for Dissa and Super, next week's hares, they took it for granted that some kindly volunteer would collect and clean the bucket and mugs. NOT ON!! It is the duty of hares for the next week to recruit a deputy, in advance, if they really cannot be there.
A hearty welcome to all the children who ran this trail, and ran it very well, despite their tender years. The parents/grandparents who bring youngsters along like this are rendering sterling service to the cause of hashing. And greatly lowering the average age of the hash - alas, we grow long in the tooth!
So: excellent scenery, fine weather, first rate checks, and a happy Circle. The GM was largely drowned by the chatter of the Knitting Circle but who is complaining?
ON ON FRB
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