I can't really remember what I did the day before the last Brooklyn hash, other than write a delinquent write up, but no doubt the day was filled with pleasant things a person doesn't appreciate until they are gone. Like sleeping in at whim. The absence of floods, droughts and leaks. Running water. Well, I didn't appreciate the water until two days later when the taps ran dry in my apartment and I realized I should have been home cleaning and caching for the coming drought week. But was I? No. I was hashing. At the unofficial Welcome Winter to Brooklyn hash set by the heart and soul of the Winter Wednesdays, Alice and Geoff.
Arriving in Brooklyn's lower districts, I was glad to see Jerry on subway platform, especially since I believed our start to be elsewhere. Thanks to the time change, most of the pack showed up early. Keith, John Burke, Paul, Robbie, Jerry and I huddled next to the token booth as a winter chill crept down the subway stairs and seeped into our bones. Our hare Alice arrived, wrapped in a giant yellow parka (maybe XL-tall isn't the right size, Alice) and admitted to forgetting the time change, just like last year. The pack furtively exchanged a few worried looks.
No one was quite sure what Alice had done with MIA co-hare Geoff, but she passed out candy, so we all took some. After some negotiation, she let us start running at 7:10 to stave off hypothermia. "Okay," she tells us through chattering teeth, "first mark is around the corner, up two blocks, on the left, on a tree." The pack thinks she's kidding. She repeats the instructions and adds that it's Geoff's portion of the trail and not her fault. More frightened looks and we are off with our candy, just in case survival rations are needed. We run down streets with long, dark blocks, our small band running and checking vigorously. It was another opportunity for a lived-experience geography lesson on life below of the L train; too bad I don't remember where we were.
A few more turns and we found ourselves in a schoolyard where we got to muck around its creepy back alleys and trash bags. Sucks caught up to the pack after lopping off a good third of the trail, and sooner or later we were all on again. We roamed around, following checks down dark alleys, passing through Carroll Gardens and the Brooklyn Promenade, to the Sidebar where Geoff, refreshments, and a nearly empty back room waited for us. Downdowns were awarded, but only for invented crimes, as no one did anything too deviant on trail. The most serious offense was Christine's appearance in a suit, having just ditched her Hashaholics Anonymous meeting.
Nice scenery. Nice geography lesson. Nice running water. Nice on in. Thanks, Alice and Geoff. On out.