Run # 1612 Saturday 1st September 2022
Run 1612 marked the occasion of Chatterbox’s 17th birthday. It also coincided with Square Rooter’s 600th run, so there must have been some strange planetary alignment, in the hash heavens, to create such on auspicious event. The A bucket was at the G&M Sausage factory in Sankampeang. A site favoured by the Skid family for its proximity to a fine onon facilities. From the pictures posted by Snail Trail prior to the run, the haring duties looked very much like a family affair with Chatterbox and Snail Trail being the hares and Skid Mark being roped into paper carrying duties. Due to the over extended rainy season we are experiencing at the moment, the weather for the set was horrendous. Yet the haring detail, in true hash style, stoically got on with the business of trail setting regardless of the adverse climactic conditions.
About 25 of the regulars turned out for today’s escapade with Piggy introducing, Paul, one of his longtime friends from England to hash. After we had gone through the formalities of the hare brief, Belly decided to convene a mini circle before setting off. As Piggy’s friend, Paul, had inadvertently turned up in new shoes, he was therefore invited to drink a can of Beer Chang dispensed into the offending footwear which he dutifully executed.
We set off into the rice fields and it was immediately evident that the majority of today’s run was going to be spent squelching through mud. So we slid and slipped our way through the paddy fields having to cross the odd stream or two and eventually after about 2 km we found ourselves on a tarmac road and a circle check which was giving difficulty to those trying to locate the trail. This in turn resulted in a group collecting on the road. It is my experience whenever a situation like this occurs, an impromptu committee is formed to lambast the hares for their devious trail setting techniques. Today was no exception. As we were discussing the veritable merits of the hares, a car pulled up driven by a woman who looked to be accompanied by her son. She seemed very polite and friendly, but when she saw Purple Fart it ignited a sense of recognition towards him and she seemed quite enamored by his presence. Although Purple denies never knowingly ever meeting her. His memory was probably suppressed during an episode of alcohol induced cognitive impairment. Or it is better summed up as normal hash behaviour.
Eventually the trail was found and it took us past the site of a previous Skid Mark run of about 2 or 3 years ago, as this place is indelibly etched in my mind, I recognized it immediately. The reason I remember it was because the run he set had been a B to A run and this point had been the B bucket. That meant that we had to be transported to the starting point. As I remember, some went in the songteaw and the remainder were taken in Titty Smoker’s truck. The problem was that Skid Mark had to drive the truck, but this vehicle has a manual transmission and I don’t think Skid Mark had driven such a conveyance for quite some time. The result was when we arrived at the B bucket Skiddy neglected to engage the clutch before stopping which almost sent all those assembled in the back, myself included, flying forward and out of the truck.
We carried on through quagmire of rice fields with the black storm clouds gathering overhead and then the inevitable happened and a downpour ensued. Like drowned rats we soldiered on and eventually back to the A bucket. Although today’s run was hampered by the weather, I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was in the region of 7 km and totally flat as you would expect with any run Skid Mark is involved with.