Also, a Vineyard hash, but the one I attended was not so.
Great hashing country in Germany. I stayed in a Hostel smack dab across from the train station in Frankfurt which meant two things. One, easy access to major transportation to and from hashes and I could sleep in before taking the train to Prague today. Oh, it also was smack dab in the middle of the red light district which made for some very interesting walks around the block. I grew quite adept at saying, "Nein!" and pulling my arm away from whatever person grabbed it to try and get me into whatever club with comments like, "They suck you, no condom!"
Ummm, yeah... I'd rather stay herpes free thankyouverymuch.
Anyways, on to the hash. It was a quick 23 minute train ride to the outskirts of a much greener and nicer Frankfurt than in the city. The trail was a great length and went through some amazing woodland areas along footpaths and wandering through less traveled areas. I made the time for another wild blackberry stop and even juggled some apples from wild apple trees near the multinational church we ran past. I was told it's a worship center for any and all religions and stays unlocked 24\7 for that very purpose. It's on this hill in the middle of this large forest with no real roads running up to it, very very cool. If there was a time I wish I ran with a camera, that was it.
Trail was amazing, except I ran into that thing where the hares lay behind the pack again. It works for the walkers, but as an FRB it's still quite frustrating when there's no marks for ages and you back check out of confusion to see the hare laying flour and a directional arrow behind you.
Nevertheless, they were a great group to hash with and I hope that I can show them some desert shiggy if they ever make it to Vegas.
Well, 3 minutes left of net time so I'll end this now as I have Prague's Red Dress weekend, 24th anniversary and 888th hash in the next 3 days!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
TNT Hash
Edinburgh's other major hash is the TNT, or The New Town Hash House Harriers.
A more rambunctious group, we met at the Speigel tent just outside of the main festival area. As we started to mass up (we were close to 40 I think), people started taking pictures of us, probably thinking we were one of The Fringe acts that have been performing around the Festival.
I should note that this is the back end of Festival time in Edinburgh, which is basically a massive performance affair. Street performers of all ilk, plays, magic, comedy, films, etc. etc. you get the idea. It's an amazing centerpiece for culture and entertainment around the world and definitely worth shelling out a few pound for in order to experience!
On Monday night, I joined several hashers at C Venue 34 to watch The Forbidden Planet, which was a kind of Tempest meets satiric sci-fi. It was entertaining, but wasn't a mind blowing experience by any means. The cast was young, enthusiastic and couldn't quite fill the room with their voices. Fun though and the inclusion of many 60's era rock and roll songs kept the audience entertained.
Yesterday (Wednesday), before the hash I took a whim and walked up to Bedlam Theatre to see what was playing. A play called Before We Remember had started 5 minutes prior and they allowed me late entrance to watch it.
Now, this was spectacular. A cast of 6 used string, black garbage bags, bits of paper and cardboard to tell the story of a woman who, in the final moments of death, remembers flashes from her life. Between the flavorful music, inventive and bright actors and a story that I can only call haunting, It may have been my highlight of the Festival. Especially to have simply stumbled across it so randomly.
After the play I got a quick bite to eat, grabbed a cider and waited for the hash at the Speigel tent. We finally amassed and moved to the street where the hares pointed the way.
It seems to be UK thing so far, but a brilliant trail that took us around the fringes of the city and deep into the heart of the festival was marred by hares that seemed to remark trail behind the FRB's. Several times I would check down a direction, then finding nothing for over 100 yards, turn back to find others coming back from Falses. The hares would then arrive with the walkers and point an arrow down the direction I just came from, and start marking trail!?!? Only beyond the 200 yard point did previously marked flour start to appear. I'm all for keeping the pack together, but this is silly!
Combined with one hare who was marking falses with a T instead of the standard F, it was all a tad confusing. Nevertheless, I did get a great run in, winding up and down the hilly streets of Edinburgh, jiving down narrow staircase causeways, and squeezing through masses of people in the heart of the festival who were boggled by us (now spread 3 thin in most places except for the DFL walkers) shouting, "On-On!" "Check!" and "Where in the hare does this trail go!??!"
The post-marking did get the better of one hare however as he started to draw a flour arrow on the cobblestones right in front of a policeman who grabbed him, and took down his details (one can only hope he 'tweaked' those!).
At the On-In we gathered in our section of the tent, enjoyed our discounted brew and noshed on burgers and sausages while RA Emu did his best to get things under control for circle.
I joined Croatian hasher Aer Linguist as a visitor in the center (we had 2 others, but they skipped off before circle began, along with one virgin.), and down-downs were thrown out to the usual suspects.
Afterwards (with no swing low), we boozed and mingled for a while until the crowd pared down and a few of us went on-on to another pub for more drink.
Crashed at Emu's last night, he's a great guy who I expect to run across more times as I travel. He's actually due in the US (East Coast) fairly shortly, so keep an eye out for him. Loads of fun.
Today I went to the "Dead Man's shop" (thrift store) and picked up a red dress for Prague's Red Dress Run. At under £8, it was cheap enough for the one wear I'll give it at their event weekend.
Outside of the hash, a couple or three days ago I took a train up to Stirling to check out the William Wallace Monument, a huge tower (264 steps) with rooms that detailed Mr. Braveheart's struggle to free Scotland from King Edward I's oppressive rule. The view from the top was spectacular and unhinged from the usual anti-suicide bars that do just as good a job mucking up photos.
I decided to walk to the monument from the train station, a good 3 miles roughly one-way. It was enjoyable though, I took in a lot of amazing Scottish farmland scenery, a massive ox bow river, got lost, was found again, and found wild blackberry bushes along the roadside that I could pick handfuls of blackberries from, bursting with ripeness and munch on.
Sunday I fly to Frankfurt for about 3 days before moving on to Prague.
A more rambunctious group, we met at the Speigel tent just outside of the main festival area. As we started to mass up (we were close to 40 I think), people started taking pictures of us, probably thinking we were one of The Fringe acts that have been performing around the Festival.
I should note that this is the back end of Festival time in Edinburgh, which is basically a massive performance affair. Street performers of all ilk, plays, magic, comedy, films, etc. etc. you get the idea. It's an amazing centerpiece for culture and entertainment around the world and definitely worth shelling out a few pound for in order to experience!
On Monday night, I joined several hashers at C Venue 34 to watch The Forbidden Planet, which was a kind of Tempest meets satiric sci-fi. It was entertaining, but wasn't a mind blowing experience by any means. The cast was young, enthusiastic and couldn't quite fill the room with their voices. Fun though and the inclusion of many 60's era rock and roll songs kept the audience entertained.
Yesterday (Wednesday), before the hash I took a whim and walked up to Bedlam Theatre to see what was playing. A play called Before We Remember had started 5 minutes prior and they allowed me late entrance to watch it.
Now, this was spectacular. A cast of 6 used string, black garbage bags, bits of paper and cardboard to tell the story of a woman who, in the final moments of death, remembers flashes from her life. Between the flavorful music, inventive and bright actors and a story that I can only call haunting, It may have been my highlight of the Festival. Especially to have simply stumbled across it so randomly.
After the play I got a quick bite to eat, grabbed a cider and waited for the hash at the Speigel tent. We finally amassed and moved to the street where the hares pointed the way.
It seems to be UK thing so far, but a brilliant trail that took us around the fringes of the city and deep into the heart of the festival was marred by hares that seemed to remark trail behind the FRB's. Several times I would check down a direction, then finding nothing for over 100 yards, turn back to find others coming back from Falses. The hares would then arrive with the walkers and point an arrow down the direction I just came from, and start marking trail!?!? Only beyond the 200 yard point did previously marked flour start to appear. I'm all for keeping the pack together, but this is silly!
Combined with one hare who was marking falses with a T instead of the standard F, it was all a tad confusing. Nevertheless, I did get a great run in, winding up and down the hilly streets of Edinburgh, jiving down narrow staircase causeways, and squeezing through masses of people in the heart of the festival who were boggled by us (now spread 3 thin in most places except for the DFL walkers) shouting, "On-On!" "Check!" and "Where in the hare does this trail go!??!"
The post-marking did get the better of one hare however as he started to draw a flour arrow on the cobblestones right in front of a policeman who grabbed him, and took down his details (one can only hope he 'tweaked' those!).
At the On-In we gathered in our section of the tent, enjoyed our discounted brew and noshed on burgers and sausages while RA Emu did his best to get things under control for circle.
I joined Croatian hasher Aer Linguist as a visitor in the center (we had 2 others, but they skipped off before circle began, along with one virgin.), and down-downs were thrown out to the usual suspects.
Afterwards (with no swing low), we boozed and mingled for a while until the crowd pared down and a few of us went on-on to another pub for more drink.
Crashed at Emu's last night, he's a great guy who I expect to run across more times as I travel. He's actually due in the US (East Coast) fairly shortly, so keep an eye out for him. Loads of fun.
Today I went to the "Dead Man's shop" (thrift store) and picked up a red dress for Prague's Red Dress Run. At under £8, it was cheap enough for the one wear I'll give it at their event weekend.
Outside of the hash, a couple or three days ago I took a train up to Stirling to check out the William Wallace Monument, a huge tower (264 steps) with rooms that detailed Mr. Braveheart's struggle to free Scotland from King Edward I's oppressive rule. The view from the top was spectacular and unhinged from the usual anti-suicide bars that do just as good a job mucking up photos.
I decided to walk to the monument from the train station, a good 3 miles roughly one-way. It was enjoyable though, I took in a lot of amazing Scottish farmland scenery, a massive ox bow river, got lost, was found again, and found wild blackberry bushes along the roadside that I could pick handfuls of blackberries from, bursting with ripeness and munch on.
Sunday I fly to Frankfurt for about 3 days before moving on to Prague.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Edinbrugh Hash
After arriving in Glasgow last Wednesday, I finally had the chance to hash with Scotland on Sunday as the Edinburgh hash took us out into a large estate out in small town, whereverville.
I've been staying with Oink and Mimi in Falkirk, which is central Scotland, a great train hub for getting from A to G. They've been culturing me on Scotland via many pubs and walking around various bits of the land. The Falkirk Wheel, The Palace in Linlithgow, etc. Quite a network of canals they have up here...
Ahem, back to the hash.
Trail took place on this estate which was a mass of forests, crumbling walls of old buildings from centuries gone by, a water silo that looked like a medievil tower in the middle of nowhere and a rushing river.
Laid in an active dead fashion, the hares followed behind us as we FRB's took off on trail, and when we either solved the check or the walkers kept up, the hare would arrow the check in the proper direction.
What was very peculiar though was sometimes a check would be a back-check of sorts. We'd be following a trail on a very tightly knit path and run right across a check with no other direction to go but forward.
We'd continue on, while the hare stood back at where we entered the path and create a new arrow direction pointing elsewhere. This happened several times and while I found it a tad confusing, the pack did an excellent job of vocalizing this wankery when it happened so there was very little chance of someone getting left behind.
Pulling in at roughly 5.5 miles, with a beer stop all of a mile from the end, trail did feel a tad long, but I was also going at damn near full pace for a large percentage of it, coming in with the top FRB's.
Circle was RA'd by Hoggy, who I met a couple days prior while out in Edinbrugh drinking with Emu after attending a comedy show by Rod Gilbert.
If you haven't seen this guy, he was a great comedian. The show was one of several going on right now at the Festival and called "Rod Gilbert and the Award Winning Mince Pie" in which Gilbert goes into his duel with living in reality and how we all must be mad for staying here so long. I quite agree, his hometown of Llanbobl in Wales seems vastly superior to anything and everything. It all ends with a nervous breakdown and heaps of laughs.
Tonight I plan on going back into town and catching another show with several of the Scotland hashers called Forbidden Planet. I hear it's Shakespeare meets 60's Sci-Fi with music... no clue.
Things I noticed with the Edinbrugh hash was that they were working on knowing more than one song, they're up to 4!
FRB's and DFL's aren't brought out, but they do celebrate the arrival of new shoes properly. I also got called into circle twice, once for the typical visitor affair and again for being too damn smart on trail when I went checking in one direction and came back shortly after to announce, "Well, it doesn't go this way, the path has unbroken spider webs across it!"
Thus far, UK hashes have been of the older crowd and they can drink like fish. While lots of fun, I do hope to run into a younger hash crowd in the coming weeks. There's a lot of places to hash out here that I haven't been to yet when I get to Europe, so I guess I'll see.
I've been staying with Oink and Mimi in Falkirk, which is central Scotland, a great train hub for getting from A to G. They've been culturing me on Scotland via many pubs and walking around various bits of the land. The Falkirk Wheel, The Palace in Linlithgow, etc. Quite a network of canals they have up here...
Ahem, back to the hash.
Trail took place on this estate which was a mass of forests, crumbling walls of old buildings from centuries gone by, a water silo that looked like a medievil tower in the middle of nowhere and a rushing river.
Laid in an active dead fashion, the hares followed behind us as we FRB's took off on trail, and when we either solved the check or the walkers kept up, the hare would arrow the check in the proper direction.
What was very peculiar though was sometimes a check would be a back-check of sorts. We'd be following a trail on a very tightly knit path and run right across a check with no other direction to go but forward.
We'd continue on, while the hare stood back at where we entered the path and create a new arrow direction pointing elsewhere. This happened several times and while I found it a tad confusing, the pack did an excellent job of vocalizing this wankery when it happened so there was very little chance of someone getting left behind.
Pulling in at roughly 5.5 miles, with a beer stop all of a mile from the end, trail did feel a tad long, but I was also going at damn near full pace for a large percentage of it, coming in with the top FRB's.
Circle was RA'd by Hoggy, who I met a couple days prior while out in Edinbrugh drinking with Emu after attending a comedy show by Rod Gilbert.
If you haven't seen this guy, he was a great comedian. The show was one of several going on right now at the Festival and called "Rod Gilbert and the Award Winning Mince Pie" in which Gilbert goes into his duel with living in reality and how we all must be mad for staying here so long. I quite agree, his hometown of Llanbobl in Wales seems vastly superior to anything and everything. It all ends with a nervous breakdown and heaps of laughs.
Tonight I plan on going back into town and catching another show with several of the Scotland hashers called Forbidden Planet. I hear it's Shakespeare meets 60's Sci-Fi with music... no clue.
Things I noticed with the Edinbrugh hash was that they were working on knowing more than one song, they're up to 4!
FRB's and DFL's aren't brought out, but they do celebrate the arrival of new shoes properly. I also got called into circle twice, once for the typical visitor affair and again for being too damn smart on trail when I went checking in one direction and came back shortly after to announce, "Well, it doesn't go this way, the path has unbroken spider webs across it!"
Thus far, UK hashes have been of the older crowd and they can drink like fish. While lots of fun, I do hope to run into a younger hash crowd in the coming weeks. There's a lot of places to hash out here that I haven't been to yet when I get to Europe, so I guess I'll see.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Hashing in Dublin
Aaaaaaaand away I.... go!
First off, let me say that Dublin is what I would picture Las Vegas being like if it lost all the casinos, neon, strip clubs and everything shut down at 10. Ok, so that seems nothing like Las Vegas, but that's because it's DUBLIN folks, try to follow along. Ha.
So, the hash start was about a kilometer and a half from my hostel and just off the main road down on Grand Canal Square. Not wanting to be late, I started my walk about 20 minutes prior to give me time to find the actual start locale as I didn't know the area. Through luck, discipline and sheer ingenuity, I arrived there before anyone. Oops, better jump in the nearby Fresh Supermarket and get some din-din and something to drink.
Eventually the first hasher showed up, one Louis Copeland. We chatted and mixed about for about 10 minutes or so until others started to arrive, one at a time, over the next 40 minutes or so.
The hares, Chick Maggot and PHD came in, touting tales of obscurity about massive falsies, wind-blown flour and midget fishermen (that last part may or may not be true), before sending our giant group of oh... 8 or 10 on our way.
Trail was marked kinda-sorta well, but the combination of badly colored chalk and flour that was being swept up in the incoming rain made things begin to get iffy rather quickly.
Fortunately, Chick Maggot laid a dead hare trail, so he was more than happy to hang around checks and then point us down the massive false trails once we gave up searching.
Down construction roads, along the River Liffey (sp?) we traversed in front of businesses and dockyards before Polly and I, FRB's that we were, blew past a check that was just poorly placed (?) and scampered along trail backwards, running into the rest of the pack head-on (who said head?) two corners later. We all then jaunted back on trail the proper way crossing a bridge before arriving at the Gate Locks for the Grand Canal.
Navigating these treacherous passageways over the river (not really), we arrived on the wrong side of the tracks, err... canal.
Now, this is what I truly love about hashing. When you're in a new area, you get the opportunity to explore and see what a place truly holds. Areas that there is no chance in hell of you ever going to (whether you want to or not) as a typical tourist.
What I'm saying is we ran through the hood.
Ducking in and out of a large park, we hashed past a massive football (soccer for you Americanos) game with something like 40 people on each side, being played in a cage on Astroturf (TM). Now, how's that for wonky?
Passing these folk, we came to the outskirts of the park and on the fringes of more hood. Polly and myself (still FRB's) took off down a side path between the park fence and an old stone wall, along which several teen toughs (or wannabes?) were hanging out. The girls in one group smoking, the boys in other, shouting at us as we went by various indescretions. None of which were all that clever (what has society come to, if I'm getting called out, at least make it good).
At this point we arrived at another check. However, Polly knew the area well (British man who lived in Dublin the past 18 or so years) and was able to zen us along a trail which was being blown/washed away as we went.
Coming around the last of the canal dockyards (part deux), we saundered past three (count 'em) drunkards holding up a wall before following a quaint footpath that traveled the cape and bordered a rather nice beach. A little further along we arrived at the beer check where the walkers were hanging out and imbibing in Heineken and Strongbow (I seem to have developed a thing for cider...).
As the rest of the runners came in, we hung around for a while and kicked back into gear once the rain (which had settled to a mere misting) started up again.
Back towards central Dublin, the trail took some twists and turns along the grid streets before we went under the lowest bridge in Dublin, then along a path where every single hasher missed a true-trail arrow pointing in kind of an awkward direction until the hare (who was trotting merrily along behind us to yank us in the right direction every time we lost trail) pointed it out with a kind, "You're going in the wrong direction! Follow the arrows!"
This led us under another bridge, where a CCTV camera and a very curious swan enjoyed our impromptu piss stop (hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go!) before we traveled on.
It was raining fairly well when we slid into the On-In where we changed to dry clothes, threw on our coats and looked for a dry place to hold circle.
Just when we thought we might just have to get wet, like a beacon of hope, the rain lifted. We moved out by the giant glowing red sticks of Grand Canal Square and broke out the Kilkenney (You bastards!) for circle and down-downs.
On-Afters were at a nearby swank and hip pub called the Blue Lagoon (need verification on that...) where we continued to imbibe for the next 20 minutes or so until close.
STTI talked to me about my travels, found I was headed to Glasgow in a couple days and contacted Oink, who is giving me a hashing hand here in Scotland.
The next night, under the moonlit alley behind my hostel window, I watched a man take a piss, a junkie shoot up and a couple have sex in a recessed doorway (though I must say, the woman got the better part of that deal) all within 10 minutes of each other.
Wednesday morning I hopped my flight to Glasgow, arriving to spend the day listening to bagpipes (there was a festival on) and drinking £2 pints of Guinness (cheapest place found by FAR) before catching a train into Falkirk to meet my fellow hashers Oink and Mimi.
Double bonuses:
I have a UK number now with a pay-as-you-go SIM.
UK has by far more kick ass phones than US, and they GIVE YOU stuff when you sign up. I'm talking Laptops, PS3's, Wii's, Football club jerseys. I'm halfway thinking I should just get a new phone out here and swap in the SIM.
Got in contact with Emu from the Edinburgh and TNT hashes.
Spent the evening getting pissed (drunk) with Oink and Mimi on a nasty combination of very good beer, very good wine and fine scotch. I recalled how I ended up Alcoholiday and will probably leave the wine out tonight.
Slept in a real bed.
Scottish breakfasts are splendid.
Picked up a slight cough in Ireland, hope to be rid of it by Edinburgh's hash this weekend. Don't feel sick, so it's probably a wear-down cough from the rapid fire tour from London to Dublin to Scotland.
First off, let me say that Dublin is what I would picture Las Vegas being like if it lost all the casinos, neon, strip clubs and everything shut down at 10. Ok, so that seems nothing like Las Vegas, but that's because it's DUBLIN folks, try to follow along. Ha.
So, the hash start was about a kilometer and a half from my hostel and just off the main road down on Grand Canal Square. Not wanting to be late, I started my walk about 20 minutes prior to give me time to find the actual start locale as I didn't know the area. Through luck, discipline and sheer ingenuity, I arrived there before anyone. Oops, better jump in the nearby Fresh Supermarket and get some din-din and something to drink.
Eventually the first hasher showed up, one Louis Copeland. We chatted and mixed about for about 10 minutes or so until others started to arrive, one at a time, over the next 40 minutes or so.
The hares, Chick Maggot and PHD came in, touting tales of obscurity about massive falsies, wind-blown flour and midget fishermen (that last part may or may not be true), before sending our giant group of oh... 8 or 10 on our way.
Trail was marked kinda-sorta well, but the combination of badly colored chalk and flour that was being swept up in the incoming rain made things begin to get iffy rather quickly.
Fortunately, Chick Maggot laid a dead hare trail, so he was more than happy to hang around checks and then point us down the massive false trails once we gave up searching.
Down construction roads, along the River Liffey (sp?) we traversed in front of businesses and dockyards before Polly and I, FRB's that we were, blew past a check that was just poorly placed (?) and scampered along trail backwards, running into the rest of the pack head-on (who said head?) two corners later. We all then jaunted back on trail the proper way crossing a bridge before arriving at the Gate Locks for the Grand Canal.
Navigating these treacherous passageways over the river (not really), we arrived on the wrong side of the tracks, err... canal.
Now, this is what I truly love about hashing. When you're in a new area, you get the opportunity to explore and see what a place truly holds. Areas that there is no chance in hell of you ever going to (whether you want to or not) as a typical tourist.
What I'm saying is we ran through the hood.
Ducking in and out of a large park, we hashed past a massive football (soccer for you Americanos) game with something like 40 people on each side, being played in a cage on Astroturf (TM). Now, how's that for wonky?
Passing these folk, we came to the outskirts of the park and on the fringes of more hood. Polly and myself (still FRB's) took off down a side path between the park fence and an old stone wall, along which several teen toughs (or wannabes?) were hanging out. The girls in one group smoking, the boys in other, shouting at us as we went by various indescretions. None of which were all that clever (what has society come to, if I'm getting called out, at least make it good).
At this point we arrived at another check. However, Polly knew the area well (British man who lived in Dublin the past 18 or so years) and was able to zen us along a trail which was being blown/washed away as we went.
Coming around the last of the canal dockyards (part deux), we saundered past three (count 'em) drunkards holding up a wall before following a quaint footpath that traveled the cape and bordered a rather nice beach. A little further along we arrived at the beer check where the walkers were hanging out and imbibing in Heineken and Strongbow (I seem to have developed a thing for cider...).
As the rest of the runners came in, we hung around for a while and kicked back into gear once the rain (which had settled to a mere misting) started up again.
Back towards central Dublin, the trail took some twists and turns along the grid streets before we went under the lowest bridge in Dublin, then along a path where every single hasher missed a true-trail arrow pointing in kind of an awkward direction until the hare (who was trotting merrily along behind us to yank us in the right direction every time we lost trail) pointed it out with a kind, "You're going in the wrong direction! Follow the arrows!"
This led us under another bridge, where a CCTV camera and a very curious swan enjoyed our impromptu piss stop (hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go!) before we traveled on.
It was raining fairly well when we slid into the On-In where we changed to dry clothes, threw on our coats and looked for a dry place to hold circle.
Just when we thought we might just have to get wet, like a beacon of hope, the rain lifted. We moved out by the giant glowing red sticks of Grand Canal Square and broke out the Kilkenney (You bastards!) for circle and down-downs.
On-Afters were at a nearby swank and hip pub called the Blue Lagoon (need verification on that...) where we continued to imbibe for the next 20 minutes or so until close.
STTI talked to me about my travels, found I was headed to Glasgow in a couple days and contacted Oink, who is giving me a hashing hand here in Scotland.
The next night, under the moonlit alley behind my hostel window, I watched a man take a piss, a junkie shoot up and a couple have sex in a recessed doorway (though I must say, the woman got the better part of that deal) all within 10 minutes of each other.
Wednesday morning I hopped my flight to Glasgow, arriving to spend the day listening to bagpipes (there was a festival on) and drinking £2 pints of Guinness (cheapest place found by FAR) before catching a train into Falkirk to meet my fellow hashers Oink and Mimi.
Double bonuses:
I have a UK number now with a pay-as-you-go SIM.
UK has by far more kick ass phones than US, and they GIVE YOU stuff when you sign up. I'm talking Laptops, PS3's, Wii's, Football club jerseys. I'm halfway thinking I should just get a new phone out here and swap in the SIM.
Got in contact with Emu from the Edinburgh and TNT hashes.
Spent the evening getting pissed (drunk) with Oink and Mimi on a nasty combination of very good beer, very good wine and fine scotch. I recalled how I ended up Alcoholiday and will probably leave the wine out tonight.
Slept in a real bed.
Scottish breakfasts are splendid.
Picked up a slight cough in Ireland, hope to be rid of it by Edinburgh's hash this weekend. Don't feel sick, so it's probably a wear-down cough from the rapid fire tour from London to Dublin to Scotland.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
West London H3
Thursday I made it the West London Hash after missing it the week prior.
The hare was Teapot, a loud, boisterous individual whom I first met
two days prior at the City H3.
I was definitely sore upon my arrival to the pub. Not wanting to
continue my horrid late streak, I arrived early, ordering a pint from
a goddess of a bartendress named Lydia.
Unlike City, there was a definite noticable level of shit I had to
take for being an American. I'd like to be able to say that it was me,
but the USA thing came up just a tad too often. Mostly from only a
couple individuals. Shame, but what can I do? Like a hasher, drink my
down downs and talk to others, more willing to converse about food,
trail or whatever else.
Away from that, trail was much more interesting!
Teapot was an amazing hare, using a website called walkjogrun.com to
plot out a majority of his trail. It was laid in the dead hare fashion
in a combination of flour and chalk. There wasn't moch in the way of
shiggy, but at over 6 miles and my being a tad sore from Tuesday, I
didn't mind. With falsies, a FRB/SC (turkey/eagle) split and two DC (a
drink check and a duck check) it ended just as I started to feel it
had gone on two long.
Coming in to the On-In (the start as well in this A to A) there was
food and beer in plenty. After ordering another pint from Lydia and a
West London Hash shirt from Rent Boy, I quickly made friends with the
two virgins, one from New Zealand and the other from Estonia. I think
those two will make excellent harriettes.
Rent Boy held a great circle, but was a bit too sore about his not
getting ahold of the hash in LV almost 4 years ago when he was in town
for an IBM conference. Sorry dude, I just started and since you didn't
e-mail the yahoo groups and just someone on the site I can't say there
was much that could've been done.
I halfway think that no one got his email and that's why no one replied.
After circle I got to talk to Thunder Thighs who wants to send Upchuck
a grand hello! Then I took the train back to the hostel to catch a
solid 3 hours sleep before taking the plane to Ireland. So now I sit
in Dublin, avoiding the rain today and awaiting Monday's hash.
Upon arrival here I immediately went to the Jameson distillery for a
tour, followed by a trip to the Guinness Storehouse for another tour.
Tomorrow, barring the rain, I hope to take a walking tour and see a
castle or two.
I honestly like Dublin a bit more than London. There's a very Vegas
feel (minus the casino, sin city vibe) in that this is a dirty city
and they're just fine with that. There's none of this uptight show of
keeping the mess behind closed doors. Embrace the shambles and all.
The hare was Teapot, a loud, boisterous individual whom I first met
two days prior at the City H3.
I was definitely sore upon my arrival to the pub. Not wanting to
continue my horrid late streak, I arrived early, ordering a pint from
a goddess of a bartendress named Lydia.
Unlike City, there was a definite noticable level of shit I had to
take for being an American. I'd like to be able to say that it was me,
but the USA thing came up just a tad too often. Mostly from only a
couple individuals. Shame, but what can I do? Like a hasher, drink my
down downs and talk to others, more willing to converse about food,
trail or whatever else.
Away from that, trail was much more interesting!
Teapot was an amazing hare, using a website called walkjogrun.com to
plot out a majority of his trail. It was laid in the dead hare fashion
in a combination of flour and chalk. There wasn't moch in the way of
shiggy, but at over 6 miles and my being a tad sore from Tuesday, I
didn't mind. With falsies, a FRB/SC (turkey/eagle) split and two DC (a
drink check and a duck check) it ended just as I started to feel it
had gone on two long.
Coming in to the On-In (the start as well in this A to A) there was
food and beer in plenty. After ordering another pint from Lydia and a
West London Hash shirt from Rent Boy, I quickly made friends with the
two virgins, one from New Zealand and the other from Estonia. I think
those two will make excellent harriettes.
Rent Boy held a great circle, but was a bit too sore about his not
getting ahold of the hash in LV almost 4 years ago when he was in town
for an IBM conference. Sorry dude, I just started and since you didn't
e-mail the yahoo groups and just someone on the site I can't say there
was much that could've been done.
I halfway think that no one got his email and that's why no one replied.
After circle I got to talk to Thunder Thighs who wants to send Upchuck
a grand hello! Then I took the train back to the hostel to catch a
solid 3 hours sleep before taking the plane to Ireland. So now I sit
in Dublin, avoiding the rain today and awaiting Monday's hash.
Upon arrival here I immediately went to the Jameson distillery for a
tour, followed by a trip to the Guinness Storehouse for another tour.
Tomorrow, barring the rain, I hope to take a walking tour and see a
castle or two.
I honestly like Dublin a bit more than London. There's a very Vegas
feel (minus the casino, sin city vibe) in that this is a dirty city
and they're just fine with that. There's none of this uptight show of
keeping the mess behind closed doors. Embrace the shambles and all.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
City HHH in London
I finally got to my first hash across the big blue ocean we call the Atlantic and these London folk are a grand troupe.
Trail was hared by Knickers in the dead style fashion, sweeping alongside us and marking the checks correctly after the FRB's solved them. Laid entirely in flour, we galomphed across parks, down back alleys, through underground tunnels (like Las Vegas directs people over the streets to cut traffic pedestrian fatalities, London takes them below) in one giagantic loop back to the start. A to A.
The big kicker is that due to the placement of the first check, I found the on-in within 5 minutes of starting the hash! I whispered it to the hare and joined the rest of the pack doing the actual trail.
I jumped over a pedestal, barely missing the sundial point atop it, I rode some guy line type swing thing in a childrens park. Jumped fences, all in all a grand time for a non-shiggy hash.
There was even another hasher there from D.C. so I got to meet another U.S. hasher from Walter Raleigh, NC. Tré cool.
Circle was done with fair speed and everyone was kept in rapt attention as down-downs were thrown out. I got pulled in with the other visitor, they had some virgins done in and then a bunch of other random shit. Good fun!
We all took turns buying each other beers before I snuck out, catching the LAST running subway (tube) back to the hostel. Special props to Teapot, I need to add him on hashspace.
Tonight I'll be going back out again to actually run the West London H3 (the one I missed last week) where Teapot will be hare and he promised food! I may have a few Canadian roommates from my hostel tag along as virgins.
On-On!
Trail was hared by Knickers in the dead style fashion, sweeping alongside us and marking the checks correctly after the FRB's solved them. Laid entirely in flour, we galomphed across parks, down back alleys, through underground tunnels (like Las Vegas directs people over the streets to cut traffic pedestrian fatalities, London takes them below) in one giagantic loop back to the start. A to A.
The big kicker is that due to the placement of the first check, I found the on-in within 5 minutes of starting the hash! I whispered it to the hare and joined the rest of the pack doing the actual trail.
I jumped over a pedestal, barely missing the sundial point atop it, I rode some guy line type swing thing in a childrens park. Jumped fences, all in all a grand time for a non-shiggy hash.
There was even another hasher there from D.C. so I got to meet another U.S. hasher from Walter Raleigh, NC. Tré cool.
Circle was done with fair speed and everyone was kept in rapt attention as down-downs were thrown out. I got pulled in with the other visitor, they had some virgins done in and then a bunch of other random shit. Good fun!
We all took turns buying each other beers before I snuck out, catching the LAST running subway (tube) back to the hostel. Special props to Teapot, I need to add him on hashspace.
Tonight I'll be going back out again to actually run the West London H3 (the one I missed last week) where Teapot will be hare and he promised food! I may have a few Canadian roommates from my hostel tag along as virgins.
On-On!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Boston Finale - London Arrival
I'm running shy of internet minutes here in my London hostel, so I'll be brief about my last week in Boston, MA.
Saturdee's hash was a blockbuster combo with a BBQ attached. The trail was short, but sweet affair that included an interesting romp through the local arboreum (sp?). However, trail was looped at a point that led everyone except for a lucky four (myself included) to shortcut almost directly to the second beer stop. For those of us who were on trail, we were treated with a great patch of dirt, a lovely set of titties (courtesy Bend Over Mommy) and an overall splendid run.
Arriving at the end point through one of the metro stops (Orange line to be specific), we pulled into Seizure Salad's place and were privvy to a delightful circle and BBQ, complete with a kiddy pool into which several of us were pulled into.
There were even several namings afoot. To memory, I Eat Teabags was named due to a tea bagging incident that occured at his naming. Another hasher was named some long conjured up thing which I cannot fathom to remember and then another Just hasher was thrown into circle. There was deliberation, me and a harriette across the circle had some weird mind-meld thing going and due to my being louder, this hasher was named; Placentos, the Freshmaker.
Yes, 3 namings to my credit on my trip, 2 in Boston alone!
Which reminds me, according to the BH3 I left not so much a visitor, but an "anomoly" (in a good way!) according to both STD (Super Teflon Dong) and Crucifux. Yay!
Towards the end of the BBQ Just Deeley (Monthly Cycle in the Boston Moon Hash) arrived sporting a wicked new (also first) tattoo along her right side.
Monday I went back to Stoughton to sort my bags for European travel and get my car ready for shipping back home. I came back to Boston on Wednesday to attend the hash, say bye to my new found friends and get ready to leave the next day.
Deeley was in full stress mode from her class and would miss the hash, which was a shame, but important things first, ya know? I dropped my bag off at her place and spent the day traveling about fighting parking tickets.
The hash was a cluster fuck of no marks, and poorly laid ones for which there were. 45 minutes getting out of the start to find trail was nuts, combined with busy intersections, it was simply ghastly. However, we finally found some trail and the first beer/shot check when we began what became a ritual of calling the hares to find out where the fuck we should go.
Along the way I grabbed 3 college age runners alongside the river and convinced them to follow our group. It worked well, they seemed to enjoy themselves up until the two and a half hour mark when between beer checks 2 and 3 one of them needed to leave. The other two followed us to the on-in, a bar called Hong Kong in which they couldn't go inside because we were all being ID'd.
Despite the disaster of trail, circle was an absolute riot, liquid libations in full form, shouting, singing, etc. A virgin from the BBQ returned to show off her new ankle cast from when she fell on trail. True hasher is she! Post circle we all karaoke'd like crazy, dancing and just having a grand old time until close to 11, when I slipped off back to Deeley's where she was still doing class work.
I woke up the next day to Deeley rushing off to class (thankfully she'd be finished on Friday, too bad I was leaving the day prior, eh?), gathered my things (and finding a lovely note) and started walking to the metro station.
I stopped half-way there to get a much needed hair cut, then had to deal with delays in trains that almost made me miss my flight. Thankfully Boston airport security is so quick you'd think they were on uppers.
I arrived here in London on Friday, but since it was an overnight flight combined with a 5 hour time change, I didn't realize the day. As a result I missed the West End London hash by a full day (though I took the train many miles just to catch it... oops...), but thanks to some Phoenix hashers who happened to be on anniversary here that I ran into at the Tower, I plan on being in Dublin for their hash on Tuesday!
Saturdee's hash was a blockbuster combo with a BBQ attached. The trail was short, but sweet affair that included an interesting romp through the local arboreum (sp?). However, trail was looped at a point that led everyone except for a lucky four (myself included) to shortcut almost directly to the second beer stop. For those of us who were on trail, we were treated with a great patch of dirt, a lovely set of titties (courtesy Bend Over Mommy) and an overall splendid run.
Arriving at the end point through one of the metro stops (Orange line to be specific), we pulled into Seizure Salad's place and were privvy to a delightful circle and BBQ, complete with a kiddy pool into which several of us were pulled into.
There were even several namings afoot. To memory, I Eat Teabags was named due to a tea bagging incident that occured at his naming. Another hasher was named some long conjured up thing which I cannot fathom to remember and then another Just hasher was thrown into circle. There was deliberation, me and a harriette across the circle had some weird mind-meld thing going and due to my being louder, this hasher was named; Placentos, the Freshmaker.
Yes, 3 namings to my credit on my trip, 2 in Boston alone!
Which reminds me, according to the BH3 I left not so much a visitor, but an "anomoly" (in a good way!) according to both STD (Super Teflon Dong) and Crucifux. Yay!
Towards the end of the BBQ Just Deeley (Monthly Cycle in the Boston Moon Hash) arrived sporting a wicked new (also first) tattoo along her right side.
Monday I went back to Stoughton to sort my bags for European travel and get my car ready for shipping back home. I came back to Boston on Wednesday to attend the hash, say bye to my new found friends and get ready to leave the next day.
Deeley was in full stress mode from her class and would miss the hash, which was a shame, but important things first, ya know? I dropped my bag off at her place and spent the day traveling about fighting parking tickets.
The hash was a cluster fuck of no marks, and poorly laid ones for which there were. 45 minutes getting out of the start to find trail was nuts, combined with busy intersections, it was simply ghastly. However, we finally found some trail and the first beer/shot check when we began what became a ritual of calling the hares to find out where the fuck we should go.
Along the way I grabbed 3 college age runners alongside the river and convinced them to follow our group. It worked well, they seemed to enjoy themselves up until the two and a half hour mark when between beer checks 2 and 3 one of them needed to leave. The other two followed us to the on-in, a bar called Hong Kong in which they couldn't go inside because we were all being ID'd.
Despite the disaster of trail, circle was an absolute riot, liquid libations in full form, shouting, singing, etc. A virgin from the BBQ returned to show off her new ankle cast from when she fell on trail. True hasher is she! Post circle we all karaoke'd like crazy, dancing and just having a grand old time until close to 11, when I slipped off back to Deeley's where she was still doing class work.
I woke up the next day to Deeley rushing off to class (thankfully she'd be finished on Friday, too bad I was leaving the day prior, eh?), gathered my things (and finding a lovely note) and started walking to the metro station.
I stopped half-way there to get a much needed hair cut, then had to deal with delays in trains that almost made me miss my flight. Thankfully Boston airport security is so quick you'd think they were on uppers.
I arrived here in London on Friday, but since it was an overnight flight combined with a 5 hour time change, I didn't realize the day. As a result I missed the West End London hash by a full day (though I took the train many miles just to catch it... oops...), but thanks to some Phoenix hashers who happened to be on anniversary here that I ran into at the Tower, I plan on being in Dublin for their hash on Tuesday!
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