HASH TRASH 10th April 2010.
Dry, cool – but not cold – with a slight overcast, an almost perfect day for hashing, made even better by a perfect trail, of a perfect length, with perfect marking – not that your scribe is biased in any way, you understand.
Regular Suzhou hashers were joined by 2 hashers from Nanjing, their GM, “Recycled” along with “LateCumer”. Two virgins also joined this Hash.
The meeting point was at a new venue, Blue Marlin III, in the SIP which is conveniently close to the BC restaurant in which we held the Hash Bash; it is also a notorious “watering hole” in which many a hasher has come to grief.
At 2.30, the appointed time for the start of the hash, there was still no sign of the bus or the hashers on board, the Hares were getting worried. Suzhou HHH have a record of never losing a hasher on trail therefore how were we going to explain a whole busload going missing before the trail had even started? Had Blue Marlin III claimed not one but a bus load of hasher scalps?
Finally to the relief of the hares the bus hove into view, the hashers disembarked and circled up for the hash marks under a section of the old Suzhou wall, much to the interest of the locals and tourists alike, then they were off, with Agatha setting a blistering pace.
As usual, despite a veritable plethora of marks, several hashers blithely ran on past them in apparent total oblivion, and as usual several others shortcut with the excuse “but I was following him”.
Perhaps Suzhou hash need to invest in several, 2 or more metre tall, flashing neon arrows to help identify the trail and prevent short cutting?
Also notably absent on this run were calls at checks. We also had FRB’s that failed to mark the correct trails once they had been found, all good down down-able offences for which a visit to the centre of the circle awaited!
After a truly fantastic trail that meandered through picturesque Suzhou old town, along the canals, through the markets in and around Shan Tang Street, all of the hashers made it home, albeit one of the virgins – Alex – caused a few anxious moments by arriving several minutes behind the pack.
Unfortunately and to our horror NO BEER!!!
The soon to be named “ShuttleCock” and “SausageSupporter” had fallen foul of the ever vigilant local constabulary, having failed to spot what they claim was a miniscule one way sign carefully concealed behind a tree, 10 metres down a one way street – a street that was two ways the day before. However after a short delay, the beer finally arrived and we could circle up in a car park away (we thought) from prying eyes.
After the usual welcoming of visiting hashers, virgins and the standard charges, the circle got down to the serious, some would say, sacred, ceremony of naming not 1, but 3 Suzhou Hashers. Whilst the naming of Phantom Flasher and Shuttle Cock passed without incident, the same could not be said during the naming of Sausage Support which happened to coincide with a party of 45 Chinese Tourists returning to their bus. The looks of astonishment and amusement on their faces as Sausage Support donned the ceremonial naming garb and the RA donned the “Support Attire” was indeed a picture to behold – obviously they must be from a part of China which does not have a Hash Kennel. In less than 5 minutes they had perhaps taken more photos of our circle than they had all day in Shang Tang Street – natural really, such is the popularity and charisma of the Hash!!!!
After the circle closed, a number of hashers boarded our bus and went back to SIP to enjoy the Bash in the small Hunan style restaurant.
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