Hashing with Cockatool...

Our next visitor was Cockatool, who was happy to escape the darkness of winter in Northern Ireland for one week after Opee recruited him to co-hare the Leap Year Hash. 

First he joined us for a City H3 trail starting near Temple. It turned into a late night after we went with a group of hashers to a piano bar at 11 p.m., where this silly photo was taken. 

Two nights later was February 29, so time for the combined West London H3 and Leap Year H3 trail, which started across from Trafalgar Square. Around 150 hashers came from far and near for this special event. 

Cockatool laid the runners’ trail through Hyde Park and St James Park so we could see Buckingham Palace, while Opee laid the shortcuts for the walkers. The goal was for everyone to meet near Big Ben just before it chimed 8 p.m. (never did figure out why since nothing special happened). 

I’m sure there was much whining about the trail during the circle, but that’s just normal hash behavior. 

Two days later was London H3, starting in a nice microbrewery in Hoxton. It had tipped down since the trail had been pre-laid, so it was completely washed out. Opee offered to lay it live using the hare’s route, but the hare’s map was useless so he just punted and put together a great trail in an area he’d never been to before. Cockatool ran carrying a 4-kilogram (8.8-pound) steel cannonball that he had delivered to our house for a 50-kilometer (31.1-mile) race he was doing one month later.

Opee had a down-down as an impromptu hare...

…and Cockatool had one as a visitor. More entertaining was when his cannonball was christened with a name: Bally McBallface