Comparing Sunsets...

We thought the sunset on March 2 as seen from our balcony was pretty nice...

…but it wasn’t spectacular like the one Ashlynn saw from the beach in Moorea on that same day. 

 

Collecting Snails in Moorea...

The first three places that Ashlynn searched for her test subjects, tiny coral-eating seasnails called Drupella, there were none. This made her nervous, but that there were lots at the next site. It was bittersweet for Ashlynn as she knew she needed them for her research, but it was bad news for the reef because there were so many of them. 

Here are the snails in their temporary tank inside just after being collected. 

It didn’t take long before the snails discovered the coral bits (which she had to collect weekly as their only source of food) in the tank and start munching. 

It made her laugh that they could climb between the tanks. 

She didn’t think twice when her lab advisor instructed her to use these outside tanks. She spent several days setting up the tanks before realizing that the temperature of the water coming in wasn’t controllable and there was no way to cool the tanks to what she needed. 

On the weekends, Ashlynn enjoyed hiking, snorkeling and drinking beers on the beach with the other grad students. 
 

Hosting Our First Party in London...

After the hash, we had a few hashers around for a cocktail party.

…and a short hash in our new neighborhood. 

Jimmy was pretty ambitious with his concoctions...

…which led to a lot of dirty glasses. A good time was had by all!
 

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

 

Art with Lights and Fire....

After the hash in Ruislip, we stopped by Battersea Power Station to see their light installations.

I especially liked this diamond sculpture hanging inside.

On our walk back from Shadwell, we happened upon an unusual sight in the park: a Roman gladiator with a flaming sword. Turns out that some photography enthusiasts had hired a man who plays with fire for a special photo shoot. 

After chatting with them, they invited us to stick around and watch for awhile.

He was pretty impressive!

After they took enough photos of the flaming sword, he changed clothes and lit a whip on fire. 

It was definitely a unique show. 
 

London at Night...

Also in February, we saw some great views on a City H3 trail through Pimlico and over to Battersea.

I was excited that I managed to score tickets to The Lookout, a newly opened public viewing platform on the 50th floor of a new skyscraper. On February 23, we went with Lexi and Dan to check out the nighttime views, which were pretty incredible. 

Later we had dinner at Mr. Lasagna, which we had discovered while searching for a restaurant that served salmon lasagna for our anniversary in Europe. Although the name is corny, the salmon lasagna was truly delicious and the prices were shockingly reasonable, especially considering the posh neighborhood. Afterwards, Jimmy and I walked home along the river... 

….under a nearly full moon. 

Between the gorgeous views, we passed a bubble-themed exhibit.

No matter how often I pass it, I never get tired of seeing Tower Bridge, especially at night.

 

Muddy Hashing in Ruislip....

The following Saturday, we travelled over an hour to get to this far north-west corner of London where the hare lives. London H3 is my favorite of the local kennels because we often get out of the city center and do lots of off-road trails. For this particular trail, we spent a lot of time in Ruislip Woods, which was slow going as I tried to avoid as much mud as possible. 

Ruislip Lido is a reservoir created in 1811. 

One of the hares told us that this artificial beach was once used in a UK film that was supposedly set in Spain

First daffodils spotted this year. 

Sorry, long story ahead: Three weeks prior, we had a bad experience with another member of the RA Team. When he heard that Opee and I had been asked to RA that day, he said, “You can be my assistants” and I assured him that wasn’t going to happen. Then he said, “If you’re not funny, I’ll take over.” Opee missed hearing his grumbles, so I told him while we were running that he needed to come up with an appropriate response to call him out on his negativity. He came up with a brilliant plan! He borrowed six metal cocktail sticks from the bartender and handed them out to random hashers with instructions to hit their glasses whenever a down-down was funny. If they were silent for two down-downs in a row, we would concede the floor to the grouchy RA. Needless to say, everyone found things to tap against their glasses and the experiment was a success. 

This particular week, I was asked to co-RA with that hasher. He originally asked me to share all of my down-downs so he could write them down to make sure that we wouldn’t duplicate anything. He’s a bit older and clearly old school since I use my phone to take notes on trail and assured him that there was no way we’d have the same accusations beyond the usual hares, visitors, etc. 

Luckily we worked well as a team.