| For the 35th Toulouse HHH run, our hares Pink Phlegm, Sticky Mermaid and their progeny (Got Male, Sticky Horn and the soon to be "mini-me") brought us to together at the Zone Verte des Ramiers. The stretch of delightful Hashing weather remained unbroken, as the faithful assembled under temperate, blue skies. Rousing practice horn blowing by the ankle biters kept the bugs at bay, as the hashers grew restless for departure. Confusion and concern reigned as the 5 hares described the hash course, with no two agreeing on the markings or the nature of the trail. Even more uncertainty arose for the runners, as evidence mounted that none of the hares were runners themselves and that trails were placed by bike, calling into the question the veracity of trail length and run-ability. Nonetheless, all were off with a blast of the horn. The runners scampered off into the underbrush, and the walkers tackled a hilly start. After a brief, tangential foray into the forest, the runners too ascended, and quickly encountered the walkers, and within 20 minutes, saw an "On - In"! As the hashers drifted around in perplexity and doubt raised by a too soon on-in, Hare Pink Phlegm emerged to point us in the right direction, explaining that overly honed homing instincts were drawings us prematurely on-in instead of allowing us to stay on-trail. Off to the forest again went all. Soon, this proved to be a longer hash than recent memories conjured, one sufficient to separate the men from the boys as well as the parents from their children. Sights and sounds compensated for any perception of excessive length of trail; all verdant greens, autumnal breezes, and swaying trees. The sewagy smell of the River Garonne, however, left all appreciative that no water crossing was proposed. For a second time, the long and the short split, and each soon made an appreciated turn toward home, both courses simulating smashed figures eight.
The runners and walkers came on-in at roughly the same time, seemingly by design. But soon, admissions of guilt of various offenses provided plenty of fodder for punishment by down-down. Coffee Bean and Dominatrix and various underage counterparts had short-cutted to achieve a quick finish time, and were promptly down-downed. Then, an admission was made that some junior hashers meticulously erased flour markings along the trail, confusing Coffee Bean and Dominatrix into short cutting, and earning themselves a down-down, as innocence and cuteness earn no reprieve among hashers. Other down downs were garnered by Virgin Linda and by Frank of Bonn (for returning, for departing, for front running ... his sins were too numerous to count). Got Male was cited for Stupidity, into which she dragged Comes Quickly as co-conspirator. And, of course, the down-downs started and ended with the family of hares, to both celebrate and harass them for their contributions to Hash society. To summarize the haring, though there was confusion, not a single fatality resulted. This is a Hash Victory! Festivities closed with the traditional parting song, after which Quicksand, hare up next time, threatened to make the next hash, "same time, same place, opposite direction."
Peace, Comes Quickly |