NYCH3#1274
July 9, 2008
Start: Columbus Circle
Hares: Mean Jean and Crawlaholic
On-In: Bourbon Street (72nd and Amsterdam)
Scribe: Blackout
It was bound to happen sooner or later, given all the reporters attending the hash in the past year. While the New York Times and AM New York brought out a few newbies, it took Time Out to really get the virgins out in droves. Of course being the lead entry in an article highlighting activities which combine alcohol, exercise, and hooking up might have been the difference too…
Despite the thunderstorms a couple hours before the start time, a big crowd showed up at Columbus Circle (which makes one wonder what good weather will do to the turnout). After the usual chalk talk to the myriad virgins, Mean Jean directed us into Central Park. The weather was humid, but the recent rain had cooled things off nicely and the hares set a pleasant trail through various southern portions of the park, then the zoo, and into the Ramble. Eventually the trail led to the western edge of the park, and then shimmied over to the Hudson and down to the Boat Basin before ending at a large sweat puddle outside of Bourbon Street.
It took a while for the pack to trickle in, but at least some of the hashers noticed ultra-distance king G’Dick casually doing pullups on the scaffolding outside of the bar. Eventually everyone made it inside though, where pitchers were awaiting us. The pitchers would last until 9, when we could really get down to the business of drinking, with 50 cent cans of Coors Light. The huge crowd mingled happily until the circle began.
Down-downs went accordingly:
– the Hares
– the horde of virgins (15? 20?…too many to count at any rate)
– Visitors: a jovial couple from Perth, Australia
– Laura aka “Riding Big Jake” for an encounter with a raccoon in Central Park
– Dave Hardy was sent up for exceedingly rare behavior on his part…talking with a virgin. Apparently the virgin (Meredith) is son Hardy’s teacher. They both got a drink for the impromptu PTA conference.
– AOTW went to G’Dick for the pullups, apparently the 5 mile trail in 100% humidity wasn’t enough of a workout…
Either shortly before or after the circle, a large number of pizza boxes suddenly appeared, and just as quickly disappeared as the ravenous hordes descended. However there was more than enough beer to be had…while the group slowly trickled away, the (cheap) beer kept flowing and flowing…
On-out.