Wednesday, 28 December 2005
The True Christmas Hash took place on Friday 23rd, at Zar Zar - -, in typically seasonal weather of freezing temperatures, rain and sleet, if not actually snow. (On revisiting the site yesterday it looked perfect, blanketed in a fresh coat of snow and bathed in sunshine, however these were not the conditions on the day.)
The trail had been set by 2 Fishes and his pups on the same morning - the hares trailed in from various directions as the hashers arrived. Nicky led the walkers on a separate, quite lengthy trail.
An innovation in checks was explained and unleashed - a circle with a number “X” in it meant that the first X hashers to reach the spot had to turn around and rejoin behind the last runner.
After some confusion in which every possible false trail from the start point was explored the hashers set off in the direction of the lake and the heavy going became obvious - within a few steps everyone was carrying an extra few kilos on his or her feet as they were covered in caked on mud. After running to, around and past the lake, over a ditch quite possibly containing dead horses and past a quaint igloo shaped mosque, past several checks and on multiple false trails, a point was reached where much scouting around for paint only uncovered false trails, until the hashers were led straight up a hillside by Alex who had set a trail on the principle that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. This finished off most of the hashers before they could enjoy the long run on in, and many of us carried wobbly legs throughout the festive season.
The down down was a cosy affair by a real fire, accompanied by hot wine and soup, and a surprising number of returners and virgins (including Shakesprick of the Kuwait hash, Bananarama, last seen on the Damascus hash in 2000, and Morning After, who admitted he hadn't come since July), villains (including Richard who seemed to run his own hash route, Paul who did not run at all and Rafi for complaining) and hares took their down downs.
No volunteers stepped forward to set next weeks hash, so advice was given to turn up at Al Jalaa or watch the website as usual.
On on, your scribe, 2 Fishes.
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