Run #203 "Halloween Hash", October 17th, 2004
Happy Halloween NH3 Hashers!
Once again it was that time of year for all the young boys and girls to stop and stare at those crazy participants of the Hash - running psychotically through parks and across streets vialiantly striving for that 'near beer' sign which was particularly elusive this year! The group that met at Fujigaoka station included a few Jack O'Lanterns, Harry Potter in the flesh, a bunny or two, a terrorist (very appropriate Kahn!), a tiny police chick (arrest me PLEASE!), a monkey and devil, a frothing head, a Canadian (or was he?), a couple of movie characters and Echi Eater sporting a dangerous cucumber! And if you know Echi, you know that cucumber is going to get stuck somewhere pretty uncomfortable by the end of the hash...
Bushi Rider and Echi Eater set a particularly gruelling course with the advice that "If you are smart, it'll be short." I didn't know about anyone else, but this was definitely going to be a long run for me! Also, there was a section of the course where we had to wait for the next hasher to run by, but only Turd Chaser apparently saw this. The rest of us ran past blissfully unaware, calling for a near unanimous down down at the end of the day. But I'm getting a head of myself, so after the group photo and virgin welcomes, we were off!
And what a disastrous start! After checking the first couple of false trails we were stumped but a particularly curious 'scene of the crime' type false trail. What were the hares thinking, leaving clues similar to a serial killer toying with the FBI agents tracking him down? After serious and lengthly delibertaion, walking around in circles for at least half an hour, and wondering what the hell the Japanese on the two slips of paper meant, we decided to give the hares a call...But they had no idea what we were going on about either! I for one was pretty dubious, but after a while things began to make sense, as their Japanese would have been a little more intelligible, and we were thankfully set back on course.
I had the pleasure of running with Monkey Manko for a part of the course and boy did he create a scene where ever he went! It was like running beside a Hollywood star with the attention he drew in that monkey suit. One wonders if that things gets used at any other time than Halloween, as it looked well used...
After that early debacle, we all wanted the course to finish rather quickly, but it seemed to just keep going! And with dusk fast approaching we were worried that we wouldn't get 'near beer' before the sun set... But after avoiding almost all the false trails, an incredibly lucky Turd Chaser scored the yellow jersey followed by Maguro Man, I've been Ekiben, Monkey Manko, Finger Lickin Good and myself. The other followed soon after and by that time, we had a nice fire going as the sun had crept over the horizon.
Not so many down downs followed, probably due to the lack of light and those damned mosquitos, but the Bash was a wonderful way to say goodnight to a fine Halloween Hash. The ten or so of us that went to the Bash somehow found Smelly Pussy's wig on our head at some point of the evening. Bushi's imitation of Sadako (of Ringu fame) was truly spine tingling, as was the aomunt of beer imbued. But hey, that's the Hash! Thanks to the hares for a good Halloween run and for the pain we all fell in out legs the day after!
On On
Niku-bou
Following message is written in Japanese.
ハロウインにはまだ１週間早いHashの日。 空は曇ってやや暗いものの、「どんな衣装が飛び出すか」と、集合場所の藤が丘駅を降りるとそこには。
河童や猿、アフロとビール頭、ハリーポッターとスケ番、テロリストと悪魔、怪しげな中国人とデューク更家、・・・これは怪しまれても不思議がないと思っていると、婦警まで現れた。
やがて、「頭が悪いと長くなる」と言われつつ怪しげな集団はスタート。しかし、数百ｍも進んだところで、チェックがわからなくなった。どこを行っても「Ｆ」にしか見つからない。そして、見つけた物はたどたどしい、思いっきり下手な字の「メモ用紙」。そこには、「Ｆ ファミリーマート、外人がどうの、白い粉がどうの・・・」。なんじゃこりゃ。ヒントかなと思いつつ。「頭が悪いと長くなる」の言葉が頭をよぎる。３０分以上混乱しているので、Ｈａｒｅに電話で確認。そんなメモは書いてないし、最初のチェックで間違った模様。そこに戻って、正しいルートへ。チェック跡に「ＳＣ」のチョークが。そのメモはどうもコースを作っている最中のＨａｒｅ（H-eater、Bushy rider）を見た子供が書いたのか？
正しいルートに戻り、住宅街のあいまを怪しい集団が、走ったり、歩いたり。時には、子供が遊ぶ公園を「猿と自衛隊（テロリストのこと）はあっちに行った」と教えてくれたりしながら、さらに進むと大きな公園が見えてきた。これでゴールかなと思いつつ行くと、長いすべり台を滑り、池の端を進み、ぐるっと周回の後、公園を抜けてしまった。そこにはゴールではなく、本物の警官とパトカーがいるではないか。「偽婦警」はこそこそと見つからないように行き過ぎるのを待ってた。 またまた、住宅地をとぼとぼと進んでいくと、どんどん暗くなっていき、やがて街灯が明るくなってくる時間になってきた。ゴールはまだか？
まだまだ、大きな家を横目に、神社を過ぎて、すっかり暗くなった道を歩いていくと、真っ暗な木の間に「Near beer」の文字が。それも暗くてほとんどわからない状態で。
ダウンダウンを始める頃には、日はとっぷり暮れて寒くなっていたので、焚き火ダウンダウンとなりました。
お疲れさまでした。
Groper
Spooky からの後日談
神社で道に迷ったカーン。迷彩服にビンラディンのT−Shirtという出で立ちで、近くの交番へ道をたずねに行きました。しかし、このご時世、あの風貌であの出で立ちでいる人を警察はほって置くわけはない！銃を持ってないかとか、職業はなんだとか、尋問をされてしまったそうな。はやく平和な世の中になって欲しいですね。(by Viagra)