Brooklyn Hash House Harriers

Run #203 July 24, 2000

Hare: David Byron-Brown

Start: Smith and 9^th Streets on the F and G

On-In: Sparky’s, Court St.

Scribe: Janet

Byron-Brown did warn us at the start that parts of the trail would be bleak. The start may have been near a gentrifying section of Brooklyn, but it doesn’t yet have the makeover needed to attract tourists. Still, we weren’t at the bleakest part of the trail. There was a lot of teasing of the hare at the start, in the hopes that he would reveal some indication that he’d learned some lessons from his recent string of long, horrendous trails (not my own opinion, since fortunately I experienced them only secondhand, but the word on the street). But, the fact is we’d all showed up anyway and had resigned ourselves to whatever lay ahead and to our pocketsful of quarters. At virtually the moment we set off, it started to rain, but no one seemed to notice. It was that misty sort of rain that kept us cool while contributing to the bleak ambiance.

Considering the hare, the trail was relatively short, but we did a lot of the 45 minutes too fast in an effort not to get separated from the rest of the pack. Sorry, Lara, at least we were close to nice sections by the time we lost you. It was a fun trail of the bleak, old-time Brooklyn pavement and warehouse sort. We ran through Red Hook and I noticed a building that as it turns out Jerry used to work in. I happened to notice the building on trail because it looked remarkably spiffier than anything around it. Considering the places Jerry has worked in this city, I think that says something about the bleakness of the rest of the area. There was one particularly hard check on the overpasses before we broke through toward Carroll Gardens.

Sparky’s, that sanctuary for dogs and finicky beer drinkers, was (I sorry to say) just bad. Upon entering, we all took an immediate about-face to escape the clouds of smoke. By the time I was ready to give up the fresh air outside for a small cup of water, there was still no water ready. At first we thought that the hare was being amazingly lazy, but as it turns out the bartender was simply refusing to serve us. She made us order only from the back corner where we hopped around dodging pool cues and she took 20 minutes to get to us. On top of that, more than one selection of beer was flat. But not knowing where our next beer was coming from, we forced them down. We tried our best not to complain, since as we know we must sacrifice so that Ewa can get her Old Speckled Hen. There were a couple of very strange civilians wandering around our group, just staring at us. We probably should have had them get us drinks.

John presided over our shortest down-downs in recent history, giving one to the hare and one to our geographically challenged visitor, who stopped by on her way from Biloxi to her new home in Arizona. John Burke made a rare appearance. I think I was accused of stealing his beer at one point, but actually I’d ordered the same thing and was the only still waiting at the bar when the bartender made her even rarer appearance. All of the dogs had better luck begging for food. The hare was accompanied not only by Alison but also by Daisy at the on-in, since it’s such a family-friendly establishment. When we finally got some pizza, we were surrounded by cute but unrelenting dogs. Although our refreshment took a bit more effort than usual, we all relaxed in the end. All told, we’re pretty simple folk. We take whoever’s trail we can get, we drink the best beer available, and we eat whatever the dogs don’t get. It’s a happy life.