Tuesday, October 30, 2007

RUN NO. 2044

DATE: 23 OCTOBER 2007
SITE: Diplo
HARES: Readymix and Jenni
FRONT HORN: Mad Marg
BACK HORN: Alice in Wonderland
HENS: 44 CHICKS: 2

We all gathered at what must be one of, if not the, most popular hashing sights in Brunei-Muara. Yes, we were at our lovely, trusty, if somewhat weather beaten of late, Diplo. Mad Marg sounded the horn at 5.15 and off we went, into the middle one of the 3 main entrances/exits. This took us down a fair bit, over some very trippy bits, we were also slightly hampered by the culmination of the recent wet weather, which has made some of the trails very difficult to stay upright on. We carried along and found ourselves going up what I think was Indonesia Hill, a check was found at the top – how kind of our Hares – Pussy Pelmet and myself were half way up the hill and decided that we were not going to rush anywhere, but we did make the correct decision to descend. The on-paper was found back, by I cannot remember who. (Tango confirmed that it was Legally Blond)

We continued through the jungle, some decent running trails here for a while, until we reached the second check, whereupon the terrain was awash with tree falls. I went back, but there was nothing to be found, and sure enough the paper was found on-ahead. However, getting there was no easy task. It was clearly called, but we couldn’t see a way through. Eventually we scrambled under trees and branches and had to shimmy across a log, before getting thigh deep in water and back onto dry land. We followed the trail back up a hill, across and down, and before long we found ourselves at the third check. Knowing this was not a long run, we were fairly certain where the check would be, and we were right, on ahead – to which Tango got first. All that was left was a bit of a flat trail before coming up the hill and on out.

As the Hens gathered under a darkening sky, Naj ably led the shout up. The Hares were duly thanked for a short but intense run (I do like those kinds of runs). As were the Horns, Mad Marg and Alice in Wonderland as front and back respectively. The Pulau Tiga committee were very kindly thanked also. Lost towels failed to be claimed, a few announcements were made, and the evening progressed into night, with the usual camaraderie and conviviality, and the usual clutch of Hens! - Pee Wee
(As for words can't think of much other than Cath Doolan found 1st check me 3rd,. I fell backwards into the stream, saw Kay had done the same, lots of water to cross about 40min run  looked like there was good grub, but I left early and was called a BOF( Boring old fart—Tango)

(Thank you hares for the homemade spring rolls and Jumbo seafood and vegetarian pizzas to follow. The birthday cake for Jenni’s 50th birthday was delicious not to mention the inches added to our waistline.
A belated Thank you for the stand-in committee while we were all away at Pulau Tiga. ED)

NEXT RUN: HALLOWEEN start at 6 p.m.
SITE: SPG 253 Jln Jerudong

Monday, October 22, 2007

RUN NO. 2043

RUN NO. 2043
DATE: 16 OCT 2007
SITE: DST
HARES: Nellie/Alice & helpers
FRONT HORN: Irene
BACK HORN: Cheryl
HENS: 18

Due to Hari Raya break and Pulau Tiga’s trip, only a handful of us turned up for the run. As far as I can recall this is the smallest clutch. Most of us were earlier than usual.

I arrived at the site at around 5.00 pm and noticed that all the volunteers - the stand-in JM, Judy the survivor, San San; the softies and bins maiden have arrived. The site was properly setup and Jenny; the Hash Cash with her sign in board displayed. Everyone there was waiting eagerly to receive the hens and counting them one by one – 6 then here come Cheryl, Cath, Amanda and then Sarong.
I could see a few cars parked, one of them is Glamour, Veronica Lai sitting on her chair with a sore ankle, sharing with us her shopping experience in Kuala Lumpur and how she got her sore ankle - too much shopping and walking in Kuala Lumpur.
I took the horns from the JM’s basket and Irene volunteered as front horn and Cheryl who was so eager to be the back horn. Irene, Sarong was so eager to run that she sounded the horn at 5:11 pm. She took us down the road near the Power Station and JIS and the first check was called by Cath (Legally Blonde) and Amanda. Knowing that it was a back check, Alison quickly walked towards the power line on the right and called through. Meanwhile, Amanda was very pleased that she got to the first check far ahead of us. Before long, Alison reached the second check and started calling, “Checking from here”. Before that Sarong has been busy racing up and down the hill along the power line towards the left for she was very sure that the hares would bring us to the top of the ridge overlooking the beautiful sea and the Empire Hotel and Country Club.

We were quite reluctant to walk through the puddle of water where the second check was. We were scattered all over and busy checking and before long Sarong sounded the horn and called “On Paper”. We run back and started to climb the little steep hill to the top of the ridge. Once on top of the hill, the scenery was breathtaking with the sun setting and overlooking to the sea, we saw a ship with its beautiful white sail in the middle of the South China Sea. The bracken was serene and golden from the sunrays, and with a slight cool breeze, it turned out to be a rather romantic and enjoyable stroll for the Hens to cherish.
The trail brought us back to the power line and then towards the left that led us to a tarmac road. All of us were out by 6.15 pm. Later we all sat in a small circle and our stand-in JM, Judy the survivor took her command. All went on so smoothly and food was served, courtesy of Alice and Nellie. We talked about dogs and cats. Nellie wanted to know what made a dog vicious. Is it the breed or the master or the environment? But we did not find an answer for her and at 7.30pm we deserted the place and not a trace of our presence was left behind except for some pieces of melting ice.

(The rest of us had a wonderful 4 days 3 nights of hashing experience. The longest apart from the Ballbreaker which had only 3 takers of 16+ km took the front runners 2 hours 9 minutes—Would you blame anyone when these mad men(note—men) started the run at 6.30 a.m.!!! The other longish run gave the World Interhashers a good warm up of around 9.5 km. Karen Palmer was awarded a hash handle of Pussy Pelmet and Roger for his Hashing posterity named Pelmet Peeper. A great time was had by all and lots of elbow bending to go with it. You should see now see the many youthful svelte like figures of all who imbibed in the mud bath with more elbow bending exercises not to mention the aqua aerobics or was it synchronized floating.
Viv thought she would put in some secret training to show the older hashers up but arrived at the ferry terminal with a crutch—alas she had sprained her ankle while at the gym—so she tells us. Equipped with painkillers she hobbled to the Island and by the 2nd evening was already dancing without the crutches—assisted by more elbow bending. I am sure she was glad she did not cancel her trip. On on till the next tour to Pulau Tiga. Thanks to the great committee. ED

NEXT RUN: 23 OCTOBER
SITE: DIPLO
HARES: READYMIX & JENNI

Friday, October 12, 2007

RUN NO. 2042

RUN NO. 2042
DATE: 9 October 2007
SITE: Started at Km 22.5 Coastal Highway and ended at DST
HARES: Started by Jan M/Madam Sin and ended by a “live run” with Alison/Cheryl
FRONT HORN: Discarded
BACK HORN: Discarded
HENS: 44 CHICKS: 6

They are Hashers they true blue
They are Hashers true and true
They are Peace-Co so they say
Tried to go to heaven but they went the wrong way! ! ! !

I arrived at the site with ice, pleased with myself as I was early for once. After chit -chatting with Espania and San san and signing in, soon it was time to go in and the horn went. Instead of the usual dashing in by the front runners, Hens gathered round Readymix’s car who was talking to a man. Very quickly a few of us joined in. “No you cannot go through the building site, I have no insurance cover for anybody who might be injured or any damage to the property on the site,” the man was adamantly saying. There was a lot of truth in what he was saying, but the run had already been set, the Hares were still in and Glamour had already gone in.
As the man walked away there seemed to be some confusion, some of the Hares started to run in as they did not quite understand what the man had said. Stop” Readymix called out let’s move to Tungku beach she suggested. A few of us who understood what was going on began to load our cars with the Hash property, Smurf suggested that we go to DST, as it was safer than Tungku beach. By then some of the hens had already run off towards Tungku beach leaving their cars behind.

It took a while to call everyone back to Km 22.5 Coastal Highway and collect their cars to go to DST. I arrived first with one of the guests, but got a bit worried that I had gone to the wrong place since Naj had been saying that we were going to DST near her house. I thought she probably meant Rimba. So I rang Smurf who was still at Km 22.5 waiting for Glamour and the Hares, to confirm that I was at the right site. Soon after me and the guest Trailblazer arrived on the new site then Alison and Cheryl, followed by Sarong. “Let’s have a live run, any one with paper?’ Alison suggested. Sarong who probably is a girl guide produced a roll of toilet paper, and off Alison and Cheryl went laying the run with “Toilet Paper.” through the trails where Alice and I had done the recce for our run. So when everyone arrived at the new site they all followed the Toilet paper. How convenient!

Very exiting indeed and what an experience! Poor Glamour she must have wondered why no one else followed her, let alone the Hares who might have thought that everyone “went the wrong way.” (GM Trailblazer had phone contact with Glamour and verified that she was out)No, in fact, they were going “through and through.” The run went very smoothly with no more mishap, and I am sure everyone enjoyed themselves. Thank you to everyone for their co-operation and Cheryl and Alison for quickly rescuing the situation.

Selamat Hari Raya! especially to our Muslim friends. I hope everyone enjoyed the celebrations over the long weekend.

NEXT RUN: DST

Monday, October 08, 2007

RUN NO. 2041

RUN NO. 2041
DATE: 2 October
SITE: Subok 378
HARES:Jane/Julia/Angela/Sarah H
44 Hens/2 chicks

After a certain amount of car manoevering and hens attempting to park on the very steep hill slope and once the hens had rested after the walk up the hill to the site, the hens set off at 5 15. Carol on front horn, led the ladies round Nellie's car (which she didn't have time to move and which later flashed its lights angrily after it was moved by Dizzy) and Alice took the back horn which NO other hen had volunteered to do. Our JM " Naj the Nag", commented loudly on the fact that it was a bit of a worry that if no one wanted to do back horn, who would volunteer to take on responsibilities on the committee in November??

So the hens set off up a slippery bank and disappeared into the jungle. Soon the hares appeared in an excited mood having spotted a cat like creature which they could not identify. Indeed Sarah said it was the first animal she had actually seen in all her hashing days. However, Miss Attenborough Woolley later did some research and believes it was a bear cat. The other hens did not have the pleasure of seeing the creature, but were treated to a pretty tough run that "included a bit of everything"; lots of jungle, hills, swamp and a fallen tree to climb over. As it grew darker a mist came in and settled over the area (or was it the Haze? or smoke from the dump?)

Karen (P.P.Palmer) found not one, but 2 checks, namely the 1st and 3rd, and Carol found the 2nd. Many hens came out in the dark , but agreed it was a good run. Once again hares were worried that Linda was still in the jungle as she had yet to sign out. However, her daughter revealed that she had actually GONE HOME! This after having signed in TWO guests. So she remains the holder of the hash shit and it appears she will far out strip Dizzy in the stakes for a Founders day presentation.

Once we had ascertained her whereabouts the shout up proceeded. The hares were toasted and a guest from Poland welcomed. We were then treated to scrumptious rolls by the hares and some nice cold beverages were consumed until the usual site clearers packed up at around 1130.

Run on 9 October - KM 22.5 Coastal highway beachside opposite UBD
Hares: Jan M/Madam Sin

Monday, October 01, 2007

RUN NO. 2040

DATE: 25 Sep 2007
SITE: Diplo
HARES: Alison/Cheryl/Sue
FRONT HORN: Mad Marg
BACK HORN: Julia
HENS: 40 CHICKS: 1 (who left early)
The hens assembled on a dry afternoon at the edge of Diplo. I was greeted by Dizzy, returned from her holiday, with some choices of words and a declaration that she had no hash shoes. Need we say more!
We set off at the sound of the horn and went in along Bill’s ridge. There were lots of logs to trip over which we each did in turn and then we went off to the left of the ridge, weaving down along a less familiar trail. We found some boggy patches and the odd challenging bridge around the time of the first check. This was found by Running Bare who checked back and over the river. We were in a valley at this point not far from the dual carriageway and the hum of traffic. It was very pleasant going along beside the running water. Not for long though, we soon had to face the challenge of the big hill.
We were taken up there at 2nd check which was found by front runner Carol. Up and up we went until nearly at the top (which is now covered with fallen trees) we went around the summit and joined more familiar trails heading back towards the ridge at the start. Not so quickly though, we had to head out along the short cut route for walkie talkies and we were soon down again in the thick of the Diplo trails. So many routes are now covered by fallen trees that we were constantly ducking under and watching our heads. I was now chatting with ex student Serene and have no idea where the 3rd check was exactly but it was found by Legally Blond going right and over the river. Before long we were down beside the creek and heading out up and up we went to reach the much needed 100 Plus.
Various achievements were celebrated at the shout up. The Hares were thanked for their excellent run (including Molly who was spotted as we went in). Smurf was awarded a verbal prize for the excellent way in which she put together a worksheet from pieces of hash paper. Bettina and Jane celebrated birthdays this month (both are still over 18) and Dizzy wanted a beer to celebrate something or other (not given!). Sarong hoped to be reunited with a lost bum bag (no such luck) and a “stolen water bottle” was returned to Legally Blond to go back to the swimming pool. Mad Marg is selling Christmas cards (a calendar will appear shortly) and Smurf hopes that we will all celebrate with the St Andrews Society at the ball in October. There are still places to be filled for Pulau Tiga. The merry making closed and we all enjoyed the lovely chilli, bread and salad prepared by the hares. Many thanks.

Next Run: Spg 378 Jln Subok, Kg Sg Akar (opposite Rubbish dump)