HASH TRASH
For
23 March 2008
HARE: Bang Cock
Trail # 8??*
*I haven’t a clue as to the correct number of this trail BUT we must be getting close to 900 and that really “should” be an event!!!!
On this Easter Sunday the Hash weather Gods smiled upon us once more as we had an absolutely purrrrfect day! The sun was shining, the temperature balmy and there was a very good turn out.
Showing up besides myself were Sex Tax and Pussy Willow,
St. Anus, Baldric, Mamma San, Cheesy Balls, Darina (who really should have a Hash name as she is one of our regulars), Ginger Puss and her progeny Ewan, Soft Pawn, French Frog Legs, Run by Batteries and Martin (to whom I apologize for not knowing his Hash name. We had a visiting Hasher who joined us while here with a tour group. He is Red Headed Wood Pecker from Tucson, Arizona. We also had two Budapest Hash Virgins, Sharon from Australia via Nigeria and David from Seattle, Washington also via Nigeria AND we had a bonifide Hash Virgin, Petra from “near” Hamburg. I think that makes 18 total but I couldn’t get my shoes off to check the count and truly don’t have that many fingers despite having worked last at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. Giving Head did call in to say she couldn’t make it as she had injured her ankle. However, she did invite everyone to a tea at her home later in the day. (Her carrot cake was delicious!)
We assembled as usual at Battyhany ter and milled about while welcoming the “Virgins” and Visitor. I attempted to get a passerby to take our “Group Grope” photo but the battery on my camera had gone Kaput. Must have been the result of having taken too many pictures the day before at the Vorosmarty ter Easter Mart and at the Deak Ferenc ter Wine Tasting (plus not having charged it for quite a while). Fortunately Red Headed Wood pecker had his camera and we did get a picture taken.
Baldric and Cheesy Balls left us, sprinting off to cross over Margarit Hid to run to the trail start at Kossuth Lajos ter while the rest of us went down and took the Metro under the Duna. Arriving at KL ter we only had a few minutes to wait before Baldric and Cheesy Balls arrived. From this point Ginger Puss, Ewan and Red Headed Wood Pecker joined the runners and they took off together followed by the rest of the pack.
I had done the trail backwards that morning to make certain that the marks were good but didn’t look at those beyond the start north of KL ter soooooo…. The Hash proceeded across the front (or is it the rear) of Parliament to the first check at the NE corner of the ter. near the Kossuth monument. This check I had laid on the ground just inside the low fence to keep it from being destroyed by pedestrians and tourists. Unfortunately the ground had soaked up some of the flour and the pigeons had gotten at the rest so, even though I had placed a trail “blob” on the low wall just outside the fence, the runners had blown right past it and were bewildered until the pack arrived and I showed it to them. After that the marks were good.
The runners then took off exploring the false trails while I led the walkers directly to the embankment passing by the statue of Karoly Mihaly. Crossing the embankment road, Pesti also rkp., was an experience. Since it was Easter Sunday I had not thought there would be much traffic but it seemed that the Grand Prix de Budapest was being run there. Despite the number of speeding vehicles, all managed to get across without incident and we were joined there by the runners who had worked their way through the northern loop of the trail.
From this point we went south along the Duna and admired the work that is being done on Parliament. No one disputed that this is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and we can’t wait to see it when the cleaning and renovation is fully completed.
Continuing along the embankment we reached the Memorial of the “Shoes”. This is a low keyed but very moving sight and we lingered a bit to reflect upon this and discuss the tragic events that were the reason for its existence.
Leaving this site we crossed back over the embankment road (Another “Adventure”!). and meandered along some of the side streets admiring the lovely architecture. There are many classicly styled buildings in this area. Moving along we came back to Kossuth Lajos ter and crossed the small bronze bridge on which there is the statue of Imry Nagy. We followed Vecsey utca back to Szabadsac ter and, while the runners again followed a loop, the pack marched along Perczel utca next to the US Embassy. We then cut across Hercegprimas utca to St Istvan ter while the runners went up to Bajcsy Zsilinszky ut to come down beside the Basilica. From here it was a brief saunter to Josef nador ter where I had parked my car for the circle.
The circle was a bit disjointed but we managed to criticize the hare, welcome the virgins and identify offenders. We also opened the Hash Haberdashery briefly. We were joined at the circle by “sleeping beauty”. There was a wino sleeping off his vino quota on a park bench next to where we were conducting the circle. He never moved a millimeter or gave any indication of being aware of our presence despite our rousing songs. (We thought he might be dead but later when I came back to pick up my car he was gone..perhaps someone had come to pick up the body??)
After closing the circle we adjourned to Vorosmarty ter to get a bite to eat and wander around with the crowds at the Easter Mart. Then some of us continued on up to Deak Ferenc ter for the wine tasting. All in all a good day.
ON! ON!
BC
