Christmas Hash

Rain, rain go away... Friday, Michael took a rare day off (lest he just plain lose some vacation days) and decided to go to the pool. I never go to the pool during the week because I feel like I'm cheating somehow. I'm weird; I know. I figured I'd go with him and just work on my proofing from there. I was reminded of another reason I don't go, and that's because it's not a private pool. Another couple was there with their music on, which made it hard for me to concentrate. It was also a pain in the butt when clouds went overhead and spit on me and my computer.


Ok maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Add gnats and I decided to head back to the house. I tried.


By 1am the drizzle turned into outright downpours and it rained and rained and rained most of Saturday. Cliffs are waterfalls, parks are lakes, and ghauts are rivers. Our Christmas hash was at 4. Uh oh. At around 3, lo and behold, a clearing! Not only did it stop raining, but it held for our whole shabang. Yay! This hash would be at Garvey's Estate. What never ceases to amaze me is that we come up with new places to do these hashes, despite how small the island is. The Estate has a website, but I'm guessing the rooms don't look like that at the moment. I talked to Joe (right), the proprietor who was nice enough to let us hold our hash on his property, for a little bit and he said they're in for a looong refurbishing project. It'll be worth it though. The grounds consisted of a great house surrounding a chimney,



some little cottages,

and a nice yard with a great view of Nevis.

From waaaaay far away.

How cute is this? No, they're not related. They're meeting for the first time.

The walk felt shorter than it was because there wasn't some killer hill embedded in the trek, but I'm sure most appreciated that. Like Steve and his munchkin, singing?

Thorne looking happy.

The walk wasn't overly scenic, but it had its moments. We were surrounded by other great houses, going behind Clay Plantation (you'll remember we began/ended a hash there recently - post)



The runners passed Fairview Inn/Nirvana.



They also passed us. Surprise, surprise, Michael in the lead - Kat right there too (and Mandy).

Had we earned Christmas dinner yet? Nope. Time to initiate the virgins. This one got a little weird as our "spiritual adviser" Dame Carla started asking folks where they wanted to be christened. Alrighty then.

We brought blog readers and new friends (and new hashers) Scott & Laura along and they handled the ritual like troopers, especially after watching what happened to everyone else. Congrats Laura.



Sorry Scott, but at least you got a head rub out of it.



It's worth it when you get a t-shirt though. Finally Ella & Molly have reached their 25th hash. Good job girls!

Ok, time to eat.

The usual hobnobbing, only this time a few hashers are sharing their Christmas spirit. Kat in a hat!



But who is this? No one has more Christmas spirit than Santa! Ho Ho Ho. A slight hat adjustment.

Santa was definitely a hit, enthralling the kids with a juicy story (hope the parents were monitoring this tale). You'll note that the kids from the St. Christopher Children's Home got a chance to participate.

Then came the gifts. Someone posted on Facebook that they just paid $30US to have their child sit on Santa's lap at the mall. Sheesh! Free here!



I think the adults had more fun with this than the kids. Poor Santa (you'll note he had a Carib, at least).



Oy.

Thanks to the hash setters, Christmas hash planners, and most of all Santa. That was fun. We really appreciated the fact that there were no bugs - at all. If you want to get in the spirit, here's an island Christmas Song by King Obstinate called How Will Santa Get Here? Mr. X was telling me about it last week, and Kat surprised me by singing it at the hash (here's a link for you guys not seeing the embed).



Here are the lyrics:

Christmas is coming- every child is hoping- dear old Santa will come calling
(Refrain) Ho ho ho, ho ho ho. How will Santa get here?
Promise from mama- promise from papa- that come Christmas there'd be many gift from Santa.
(refrain)
There is no reindeer in my country- He have to borrow me neighbor donkey
(refrain, repeat)
Musical interlude
The yard has no snow-the house has no chimney- so how will Santa really get to me?
(refrain)
If his house is so far- far from Antigua- how he's going to get across all that water?
(refrain)
There is no reindeer in my country- he have to borrow me neighbor donkey
(refrain, repeat)
musical interlude
Me mama wouldn't lie-me papa wouldn't lie- as you close your eyes Santa comin by
(refrain)
A big big bag of goodies-down for the West Indies- still I have a question- what's his transportation?
(refrain)
There is no reindeer in my country- he'll have to fly on LIAT or BWI!
(refrain, repeat until fade)

Today, there are a few blue patches amidst the infernal clouds. The forecast has the nerve to predict some rain later, so we'll see if we can fit some beach time in before that happens.

November Hash

So let's see.  This week wasn't so great either. I've had a lot of Skype calls to make which has been quite an issue for two reasons. 1) Construction is going on behind the house and they're at the stage now that involves the dumping of steel grids onto concrete from a nice tall crane. 2) The Cable has pretty much reached its digital capacity and our internet connectivity is now constantly fluctuating (if not outright dead). Not good for internet-related work. We'd switch to Cable & Wireless, but don't have a phone line coming to the house, and as renters, don't plan to pay for such a thing. So we suffer....Michael's excitement was watching one of his tires via his rear-view mirror as it rolled away in the opposite direction he was driving. Thankfully, he kept control of the vehicle, retrieved his wayward orb, and had lots of friends stop to see if they could help (and found out this has happened to other people too - if you go to TDC for a tire swap, make sure you check the lug nuts).

Anywho, I've been escaping the melee and frustration by doing some training for an upcoming marathon a bunch of us have decided to enter. I've been debating between doing the 10K (6 miles), I know I can run; and a 1/2 marathon (13 miles), I'm not so sure about. I typically run or walk 4-6 miles every other day + do a couple of intense hill workouts/week (lunging) and am pretty satisfied with that.  Lately though, I've been torturing myself by hitting the track once/week with 2 friends to do sprints and see if I can get my speed up. How humbling.  As a final F-you to my body, I decided to run 12 miles with those same two crazy people the other night. I was able to do it and kept up with them (sort of), but really felt it. A lot. I also almost threw up afterwards. Good times.  Now you'd think that would convince me to stick with a respectable 10K for race day. But noooooo.  I have decided that my life resume needs to see a 1/2 marathon completed just after my 46th birthday. What is wrong with me??  So in a couple of weeks, I will tackle 13 miles - the one and only time I will ever do that. I'm a wee-bit scared...

Saturday morning, the construction noise began at 8am. And then for good measure, the next door neighbors alarm went off. It would shut off every 1/2 hour and then restart 5 minutes later for another 1/2 hour of hell. It did that for 2 hours (at least. We finally went grocery shopping to get away from the insanity). AAAGH!!!!  Hash time - take me away!!  Off to Molineux, or Mansion Estate, to be exact. Hey, we don't have to do any hiking to get to the ruins!



But we do want to get away from the bugs, so let's walk! Good job to Jail Bait and Max Factor for a great hash. It wasn't overly scenic, but was a good length (I think the latest ones have been a little too short) and through a wide variety of fauna. We had wide trails and some overgrown spots. The volcano peak, waaaaay up high, was nice and clear (we've been up there!).



Steve-O was a happy hiker, propelled along by German techno music, thankfully contained in his mp3 player.

We ran into the runners coming from the opposite direction twice in about 5 minutes. Lost???

Afterwards, we hung out in the ruin shadows and I got to me meet blog readers who came allllll the way from Normandy! I'm so popular (ha!). They're snowbirds, as we called them in Arizona, part-timers chasing the best weather season to season.  Hello to Alexandre and Patricia (I don't think they're in that pic)!

We seem to be running out of "virgins," with only 4 or 5 this time. Note that the next hash (Dec 10th) will be the Christmas hash, so if you want to chow down have $30EC/$11US at the ready. The food was great last time. Sorry Steve, but we did have popcorn last night, but I promise we're having a healthy breakfast and will eat that pasta tonight. Several friends are worried about our crappy diet and poor liquid intake and gave us a lecture (we were even threatened with handcuffs, which led to another lively conversation not meant for the masses). It's nice to be cared about; thanks guys.

Sunday - 8am.  The bulldozer engine has been fired up. The crane is swinging. The hammering and drilling has begun. Another morning spent shouting at each other over the din, unable to hear our tv, cursing at the peek-a-boo internet. Beach - here we come.