Seven at seven, the usual refrain attracted the usual starters plus some new blood. Agreeable host Tony at the Seven Club must be reconsidering his marketing plan after the crowd grew to it’s zenith but then dissipated at 8.30 when the prices went back to 100%, which is quite usual, but this time the crowd didn’t return after Family Liu because they had strolled up to Maya for RMB10 Tsingtaos. Well, most of the crowd anyway because Doggie Style found himself anchored by G & Ts at Seven and never caught up. But 2 bars a pub crawl does not make, and so the next victim was the Reggae, which was its usual shoulder to shoulder deafening self, with a few slightly tired and emotional hashers balancing on the footpath. Next cab off the rank was Cocos, but who actually made it there remains a mystery to me.
Saturday’s forecast was threatening, but actually it was a deliciously clear and fresh day, which was completely at odds with some of the mismanagement. Fortunately Acronymph and Doggie were in the chair for most of the 50th arrangements, leaving just the recce to scribe, who failed to note that the Juixi road was closed to buses and furthermore was a sea of mud. So when Acro and scribe arrived to set the trail from Nine Creeks, it was a case of mismanagement once again in action. So you see, that little bridge next to the construction workers accommodation was not the chosen creekside spot that was originally intended. Miraculously the pack arrived somewhat within time to mount the bus and arrive at the plan B run site, which as Acro pointed out was actually plan A. What a posh crowd alighted from the bus, all wearing Kama Sutra’s exclusive perspective of HZ, new runners Sandra and Debbie thinking carefully about what they got themselves into. The trail of course had been carefully planned by the hares over the preceding weeks, and incorporated all the most scenic vistas in the Nine Creeks area without unfortunately a summit attained. Skidmarks did the toilet stop CB which was a bit of set up by all accounts, the CB being somewhat too obvious. As usual though scribe was constrained by the aggressively cautious Acronymph and the pack had to forgo the Phone Box / Skidmarks descent down a vertical rainforest. Bloody annoying really! However there was still a surprise in store, because the unique manner in which the local authorities decided to repair and re-align Juixi Rd meant that cars, bikes and pedestrians had to battle each other through a quagmire of mud for about 1 km. Some came off worse than others. Many had to stop for a shoe wash in the fast flowing creek, some came back well mudded like Slowphuk, and Creature C while others came back pristine, especially 7Up in still white track trousers. How does she do this? Deep Throat had turned up with a photographer to provide shots for her article on the 50th, but he managed to not actually take any shots, much to DT’s disgust, hence the use of almost year old shots in the actual article which came out on Wednesday. That rare commodity, cold beer was on the menu courtesy of Tim from Maya who provided the ice; thanks Tim. That small bridge certainly carries a lot of traffic, the circle being constantly pierced by interlopers of every age and interest, or lack of interest. GM Doggie Style found a broad array of transgressions to lower the tone. As the beer started to bite the circle would fade, re-form and fade again, with an amusing water bottle fight between Tom and 7 Up culminating with the ice bucket over 7 Up’s head, but she needed cooling down.
Wendy was named democratically Ménage à trios, which means threesome, not three persons engaged in any specific activity, as graphically explained by Cartoon Porn, an expert in the field it seems. Ménage à trios was overjoyed at this name, not the expected or usual response to a hash name, which suggests that the name was already appropriate or will be shortly. Sandra and Debbie added sang-froid to the carrying on, both fortunately in old shoes, as Deep Throat and 7 Up found that their RMB10 slippers purchased to replace wet boots were deemed to be new shoes, the slippers being turned into a form of beer funnel. Have a look at the attached movie from Sandra. Then it was time to load the bus and over to the appointed tea house restaurant where the 20 filled two tables with menu selection by Acronymph. Departure from this civilised affair followed to Thirty Plus, where the age limit was suspended allowing in those of the group 30 minus. Doggie had negotiated with the management to purchase a keg of Tiger, and interest as to the number of pints kept some there much later than they would have otherwise preferred. Doggie Style was showing signs of wear by about 11.30 and chose to enjoy a kip by the lake, returning at about 1.00am to find some had left but in fact some had arrived, such as Kama Sutra coming straight from work, and amazingly enough returned to work after a few pints. Titman was sure that there beer left in the keg, but had not the strength to finish it. Perhaps some other reporter, namely Deep Throat, could fill in some of these missing details.
Run #56 Recovery Run
Sunday arrives……….strength to carry on……..yes. Phone Box and 7 Up put a lot of effort into setting Sunday’s trail from the Maya, the former in a mini skirt and the latter in slippers, must have taken all of 7 minutes. Cunning Linguist, Slowphuk, Acronymph, Sheepshagger, Tom, the shadow of Doggie, Bear who was collected from 30Plus the previous night and scribe were the pack. It was tough, those first few yards up the stairs from Laoshuguang Rd, but the blood started flowing, body temperature rising and then it was over! The girls were happy about this, but the guys were not, so out they went on a fake run over and around the hills behind, examining the sights, the views, the air con caves, the tea houses, the temples and heavenly waters, arriving back one hour later. Late starters were appearing until finally there almost a full complement for the bbq organised by Tim and run by trusty XiaoPeng; those hamburgers were great. A disorganised circle names Tom as Torvill and Dean, which made sense to the Poms and those more senior members of the pack but to no one else. Actually Tom named himself as he slipped and slid over the hills earlier in the day, saying he was doing a Torvill and Dean. So, for the record this duo without doubt re-wrote the sport of ice dancing with their performances at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. You can see the record breaking performance of Bolero at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zbbN4OL98 Bear erred in showing up for his first run wearing new shoes, and it took some encouragement for him to understand and then enjoy the standard punishment. The afternoon drifted on, sitting in the sun, imbibing occasionally, hard to take, night fell, eating whatever, people going, returning from foot massages, from naps at home, other places whatever, until it was all a blur. So that was the 50th weekend, all it was meant to be. Plaudits passed around endlessly, but really it was Acronymph and Doggie who put up the efforts with special mention to Kama Sutra for the T shirt artwork and very special mention to the members who supported the occasion so well from Friday to Sunday. On on.
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