Scribe Reports

Neither the GM (Sen) nor the JMs (Aileen or Dave) were around, so it fell to me to stand on a beer crate and start the run. Huge Murray lent me his horn for this purpose - he said he wouldn't be needing it as he wouldn't be on paper for long.
Nobody took any notice of me (no stage presence?), so I just shouted "On On" and hoped there were no guests who didn't have a clue what was going on!

We turned right up the road, and the first check was hit very soon. It was solved quickly, off to the right into the woods.
A short while later, we came down a track with a gully on our right (sounds of heavy machinery the other side), and then curved round left to a check. This one wasn't solved for a long time, until a sweeper (one of the co-hares) told us that it was back up up up the hill - that area had already been checked, but the paper was a lot further up than anyone expected! By this time the whole pack had caught up.

The third check was towards the bottom of a hill, with many many paths leading in all directions. We thought it wouldn't be back up the hill, but were proved wrong - back up and along a higher path.
So I ran along a contour, trying to catch up, and then heard calls of "Checking!" ahead.and down, following by calls of "On On!" down to the left in the valley bottom. The main path started to descend, but the paper turned sharp left onto a lower terrace, eventually leading backwards to the check after 200 or 300 metres. By the time half the pack reached here, there were no more calls to be heard, and we realised that we should have continued on down the main path.
The only option was to go striaght down through the shiggy, reaching a rough road and finding the paper off to the right, leading into a stream.

Soon after, there was an exceptionally long section down one narrow stream (my faviourite terrain - nice and cooling),and then up another. Many people stayed on the trail either side of the stream (no sense of fun!), but eventually everyone was forced to descend and wade through the water - sometimes thigh-deep, and sometimes a mini-canyon with rock walls either side - very pleasant.
The final stretch wasn't so nice - a bit smelly and polluted, so we were happy to leave the water then.

There followed a massive circular check, where the front runners turned left of the track, descended a steep hillside, went up the other side, and found themselves on a track the other side of the valley. Left again, leading to a check and then to a cross-roads we'd passed 10 minutes earlier, where the found most of the pack straggling along in front of us, the check having been solved quickly.

The final check was on an open hill-side, and took a while to solve, forwards into the forest. At this point I saw Mike Hawkins running slowly and carrying the soles of his shoes. He was hoping they'd be repairable, but I think he'll be wearing new drinking vessels next week- something to watch out for!
But my sandals weren't exactly ideal either - too loose, not much grip, and in the stream the water drained out fine but left lots of painful stones. I also need to get my old shoes repaired, or buy a new pair!

There was torn psper for what seemed to be about 500 metres, before we hit the trail again - definitely something strange going on.
Then not too far before we found ourselves on a track paved with broken bricks again - a sure sign that we were close to the brick factory.
Home soon after.

Not sure if I got those checks in the right order, but if anybody reads this, please correct me and I'll update...

The runners came in randomly - the checks had done a good job of mixing the pack up, if not exactly keeping it together.
Finally there was just one key left iin the box - Robin Cox's - and Hugh Murray was also reported missing by his distraught wife Win Chew, who instantly called her insurance broker to check the value of his life insurance. We knew they'd be short-cutting off-paper, and also that they both knew the area well, so we didn't worry too much about them - no point!

The circle was short, starting with some charges for Gail Thurkle (apparently not 'permanently' emigrated to Oz after all) and her re-found love Isaac.
Isaac was also guilty of being Indian (Happy Deepavali!!!), along with Nan (yes, I know, 'Sri Lankan'). There were other Indians around, but half of them had parked in a different spot and getting them all together at once was like herding kittens.
Then I wisely abandoned the spotlight in favour of a number of bomohs, for a succession of amusing charges, until I found Featherlite (who I'd foolishly asked to be a Bomoh) charging me, for embellishing her recent scribe report!
Well, if an Onsec can't embellish scribe reports, where's the fun in the job?
I'd embellish this one if only I could think of anything worthwhile or funny to say.

Then it was off to the On-On (or off home for me), with Uncle Don Cheang deputised to take control. I wonder if he gave any lectures on Chinese baking history?
The run wasn't quite superb enough for a t-shirt (I reckon it was those kinky checks), but was very good and got a perfectly-satisfactory On-Down instead.

One final thing - I wasn't the only stand-in that day.
The hare was standing in for Mike 'FGB' Clarke who had to pull out at short notice, so thanks very much to the whole haring team for that!!
In that spirit, as Elaine (last week's hare) was overseas enjoying herself, I thought I'd also stand in as scribe, in case you hadn't spotted that.
Back to the shadows for me next week...