Miscellaneous August 2024...

Somehow I had learned about a show southwest of London in the city of Woking. While the city has historic roots, the city center is mostly from the 20th and 21st century. This statue in Victoria Square was made in 2017. We were surprised when we were encouraged to bring our own wine into a Lebanese restaurant. We enjoyed a delicious meal with our cheap bottle of wine. 

The New Victoria Theatre opened in 1992. With 1,300 seats, it’s one of the largest theaters in England outside of London. We were curious to see how An Officer and a Gentleman could be transformed into a musical. 

I splurged for VIP tickets, which included a glass of bubbly and ice cream served in a private lounge. 

We thought the show was great!

Veronica visited David and Tamsin in Aberdeen and then she and David ventured down to Glasgow to spend a day with Ashlynn. 

Ashlynn enjoyed playing tour guide, taking them on a 13-mile (21-kilometer) walk around the city. 

In August I also finally made it to the Docklands Museum in Canary Wharf. I was so fascinated by the history of Wapping and the surrounding neighborhoods since World War II that I never made it to the other floors to learn about ancient history along the river. This model depicts the port on the north side of the Thames around 1938. As you can see, there’s interconnected harbors following the curve of the river. This area was heavily bombed during the Blitz and today only the harbors on the far left, next to Tower Bridge, and on the far right still exist; in between there is just a small canal.

 

 

Arty August 2024...

I finally made it to Chelsea to see how Banksy finished his zoo series to discover that someone had given one of his elephants stripes. 

While in Chelsea, I was happy to see another sculpture by Gillie and Marc: The Hippo was Hungry to Try New Things with Dogwoman.

Jimmy and I skipped the hash on the final Saturday of August and went for a long walk around Shoreditch and Hackney, where we spotted lots of cool murals... 

…including these two which appear to be classic Banksy.

 

August 2024 Hashes in London...

Passing through a cemetery with Fishy Fingers on a City H3 trail in Finsbury Park. 

Spotted on that same trail, this mural looks like it’s been ripped, but that’s actually just a cool illusion.

While we were on a flight back from Berlin, Dogsh*t, visiting from Hong Kong, was at City H3. He enthusiasitcally collected Opee’s award for haring the most hash trails in the past 12 months. 

Two days later I met up with Dogsh*t and Wouldn’t Chew at a pub in Richmond before we headed out to West London H3’s 2000th Hash. 

Another two days later was a special West London H3 2001st New Millennium Hash where we posed with some Harrier Central users visiting from Germany.  

Two weeks later, we were hashing with London H3 in Hampstead Heath...

…and were co-RAs in the circle.

Later in the month, In a strange twist of fate, the slowest runner was named as the FRB (Front Running Bastard) at City H3 which meant that I had to chug a pint (which I actually struggled to finish) and run with a cape on trail. 

It was a beautiful evening to run through Hampstead Heath. 

 

Miscellaneous Brussels...

Over the five nights in Brussels, we visited the Grand Place several times, including during the day...

…and at night.

The Cinquantenaire Arch. built in 1905, was especially impressive at night.

We rented an apartment in the shopping district with Carla, who we know from London. We brought our own drinks up to the rooftop of City Hall for happy hour...

..and enjoyed great views over the city.

Luckily our apartment was nicer than the gate to the small alley to our front door.

No trip to Brussels is complete with spotting some street art.

 

Best of Brussels...

That Sunday was Higgins 1000th Hash with Brussels Manneke Piss H3 and he hosted a special circle after a great trail. Afterwards a bunch of us went out for dinner. 

On Monday, Jimmy had to work, but I enjoyed going on Higgins’ Best of Brussels Walk. 

It was fun for our group to see the renovations of the site where the big Brussels 2014 Hash Weekend was hosted.

While I had been there several times over the past decade, this was the first time many of our group had been back since that incredible event.

We covered a lot of ground.

Rather than seeing lots of horse-drawn carriages carrying tourists around the city, we spotted old-fashioned looking electric vehicles. 

Jimmy met up with me later and we found a small restaurant off the beaten path for a dinner of mussels before catching the Eurostar home.