Four days on from our last Full Moon Run, we saw what I like to call the Hardcore, in the shape of about a dozen hashers, turn up for another jaunt. The A-site today was the Cross Keys Hotel at Slyne and the temperature was the warmest I've hashed in this year on The Island, despite being cloudy.

The run took about 90 minutes for the FRBs and incorporated the usual Wimps/Rambos split and a beer stop on the canal - lovely jubberly. The route took us through terrain on both sides of the A6 and came in various forms - up-market estates, low-life estates, country tracks, fields, woodland, canal and river banks. All present voiced their satisfaction and deemed the hares worthy of praise. The subtle figure-of-8 route took us back past the A-site and caused premature stimulation of some hashers' saliva glands in anticipation of an early beer stop. Alas, we had to wait a little longer for that. Slackbladder provided more much-needed countryside education for me, by providing dock leaves to ease the nettle stings and pointing out harebells, foxgloves and the like. One day he'll have me talking about sheep in the pub - maybe.

The circle took place in floral surroundings - a small garden, the centre of which had been a well. Without much ado, our GM handed the circle over to the RA (that's me) for our usual helping of religion. First in for guidance were the hares, Forever Blowing and Morticia. It turned out that they had sinned by laying parts of the trail from the car. The error of their ways was pointed out to them and the usual penance administered. All present agreed that they would never do such a thing. Next up were the GM (Hash Drunk) and Pick-Me-Up. For PMU it was a recurrent problem, which now seems to have rubbed off on her spouse. Their crumpled hash-shirts made them the worst dressed on the day. A short discussion between the two enlightened the circle regarding their domestic arrangements. It appears that:

1. neither will iron garments belonging to the other;
2. unlike the rest of us, they have no special place to keep very important clothing like hash-shirts;
3. the GM washed his white hash-shirt together with coloured items and not only turned it light-blue, but also ruined various small items of PMU's, which had been given to her by Bubbles. Repentance came in the usual liquid form.

Next to grace the circle were The Judge and The Accused. They were credited for providing much-appreciated entertainment. As they pulled up at the A-site there was no hint of a tiff, yet while TJ managed to nimbly exit their transport TA tickled us all as dexterity abandoned him and he struggled repeatedly to open the door. TJ appeared to know more about it than she was letting on. The comedians for the day also provided the quotes of the day:

• TA - "I like the Hash, even when you're at the back you can end up at the front."  
• TJ - "I've never had so many pricks in one morning!"

The last quote was obviously in reference to the large amounts of aggressive shrubbery along our route, though I couldn't help flashes back to a Hollywood niche-market offering I had once seen, starring some ambitious hard-working damsel. Fowl Scrotum got a d2 again for nothing in particular, other than that other hashers enjoy his particular version of the d2 song. Ex-GM Bubbles got the same for never erring from the straight-and-narrow. Somewhere in between he administered some religion of his own. This was in order to teach me, a man I should know better, that mobile phones can get you into trouble, especially when it is your circle. I'm sure there is a photo, which captured the moment.

Other business came in the form of Old Banger, who bought two shirts and promises to be a regular amongst us; Morticia, who like dynamite becomes less predictable and more volatile with time (some of that beer landed on me); Forever Blowing, who should in future consider masking her scent when laying trails and thus preventing the FRBs from taking advantage of Harry the Dog to do the checks; and Lurch, who looked on and appeared to be planning something BIG for some future run.

Thanks to Slackbladder for finding a discarded spindle, which will soon be slightly redesigned into something the RA can use.