| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Aug 2015 | Margaret & John | John |
Sunday morning arrives with warm winds and blue skies. Such a welcome change after the Hash at Woolstone two weeks ago, and now some were complaining that today was too hot for running – that’s the British Summer for you.
The Five Alls pub is in a very pretty Cotswold village which appears to have a pleasant social aspect with its own village communal swimming pool. This did look rather enticing as we passed in the hot sun of the Sunday morning.
The pub’s strange but quite common name is derived from the pub signs of many public houses depicting a humorous division of society into various stereotypes, each represented in a separate visual panel. The first panel portrays the King, “I rule All;” the second, a Parson “I pray for All;” and third, a Lawyer “I plead for All;” the fourth, a Soldier, “I fight for All;” and the fifth panel, a Taxpayer, “I pay for All;” hence the five Alls.
At the start of the Hash the hare tried to clarify the use of arrows, by explaining that the flour arrow going out is the going out arrow, and not to be mistaken for the coming home arrow. This could, for the confused, result in either going round the circuit twice or doing a very short trail. Naturally as some of us get older we sometimes don’t know if we are coming or going. Eventually when we did come to the coming home arrow, some had to be dissuaded from going on the going out arrow instead of going on the coming home arrow, and running the circuit for the second time. Is that clear? Now I don’t know if I’m coming or going.
Despite all the ‘goings and comings’ all the runners made it safely home, although some were delayed by a resident who was upset by runners tracking over what he believed was private property – I understand that litigation action is pending. The previously mentioned resident was later spotted driving his ride-on mower down the high street contravening the rules of the Highway Code.
Margaret and John’s route took us along country lanes and flat fields, through ‘as high as an elephant’s eye maize fields’, past two village churches and (very welcome on a hot day) no hills. Surprisingly, we also ran part of the D’Arcy Dalton trail which connects through to Woolstone, as described by Jeremy in the last mag.
The trail presented no hazards to us; the herd of cows hardly noticed we had passed, although I understand that some of the walkers preferred a deviation to the route to avoid passing the cows. Cows have recently had a bad press so no wonder people are sometimes apprehensive on approaching them.
I’m told that a pleasant time was spent in the garden after the run (we had to leave early) and due thanks was given to Margaret and John for a very pleasant Hash.
