| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Oct 2026 | Viv & John | Jeremy |
It not being the last Sunday of the month, I was only slightly surprised when arriving at the venue with 5 minutes to spare that there was not a hasher in sight. I considered whether it was me in the wrong place or at the wrong time, and concluded it wasn’t. Having then looked in the pub and its garden and still finding no one, I decided that everyone else – including the hares obviously – were clearly at fault. I stood a bit longer in the shadows next to the pub, thinking it wouldn’t be so bad if we’d been meeting in the sunshine on the opposite side of the road – and “lo” – there they all were, next to the library. A clever lot these hashers, and always thinking about creature comforts.
We were again a small select group (11 including the hares – we’ve had worse) and were pleased to see Sue return with Pete. As everything was a bit topsy turvey, we started, with our fingers crossed, by prematurely thanking the hares for having laid a wonderful couple of trails. Viv then announced that they were off to a party and hoped none of us got lost. Then deciding that we probably would, she relented and promised to look after us for the first 30 minutes.
John led the walkers, and Viv Sue round the first half of the long trail. Your scribe plodded off on his own on the long, up through The Triangle and Cardigan Road – very nice, but I don’t have a spare million or two.
Continuing up to the common I passed through the cemetery with the old folks home next to it. My mother when looking for a home did visit it once, but was put off by all the grave stones. She also thought it unreasonable that she would have had a ground floor room with nothing to look at, whilst the seriously ill and demented got the first floor and the views.
After Manton House, I caught up with the walkers (John apparently hiding behind a tree), and then proceeded to Manton itself, before returning to Marlborough via Preshute and arriving back in under the hour. I believe I followed the trail correctly, but there was a lingering doubt and I couldn’t check because the hares were away partying.
Sitting in the beer garden I was surprisingly soon joined by Mike and Kathy as the first walkers to return, and then the others slowly dribbled in – yes, we are all getting somewhat senile nowadays. Final returnee was Sue, who had negotiated the last half-hour on her own without getting lost.
We had discussions on various topics, including the pension triple lock, and the benefits or otherwise of AI for writing stuff, like hash mags, date invitations, parish magazines , …
Everyone agreed it was a delightful hash, and no one wished to withdraw our earlier thanks to the hares at the start. So thank you again Viv and John.