Our sincere gratitude goes to Inspector Gadget for an excellent run but then, how would I know as I only did half the run. For the Inspector, the location came as no surprise – Cibubur scout camp. The run was no surprise either once round the camp out through a hole in the wall into the kampong/sawah etc., across the Jl. Alternatif and back into the camp through another hole in the wall. The camp is well known to regular runners but still has plenty to offer in interesting paths and you can still get lost as the hashers appearing out of bushes at various points seemed to confirm. The country outside is good running country and from what I saw there was lots of paper and good checks so a job well done by the hares. The terrain is undulating enough to be interesting without the tortuous hills of the run sites further south. I did miss going through the cemetery but the hares assured us there was no paper running through it. There was however a defence put by Herpes that this was not a cemetery but a Turkish steam bath as evidenced by the white and blue tiles – who knows, who cares?

What was somewhat surprising considering the easy-to-get-to location and the lack of traffic was the number of late starters. Is this a new form of masochism whereby you arrive 20 minutes late and try to catch the front runners or do we have some pseudo-macho-men?

A larger gathering than in recent weeks as runners return from the Christmas and New Year break – or was it the promise of free give-aways and free makan? A slow start with some confusion as to who was doing what to whom but eventually the stand-in HM, Sheepskin, took control along with JHM Tarzan, RA Fanny, MM Shamcock and yours truly, Scribe. Hash Flash was Pretty Boy and/or Yantino.

Paul Hewes received his 10 run shirt and becomes a fully fledged MEMBER. He no longer remains a NEW MEMBER for which I am sure he is grateful.

Standing in the circle I was much bemused to watch JP and Pretty Boy trying to light some type of Chinese firework. I say they were Chinese but with the fuse in the middle they could well have been Irish. There were several attempts to light them without being seen which at one stage included the use of a pair of pliers. In the end they sought help from who else but Ha –BB. Not one to mess around, he stopped the proceedings much to the surprise of the RA. He too failed to get the banger, if that’s what it was, to work. The following happenings were like a scene from the Mask with BB producing an explosive device of mega-proportions from out of his clothing. There was the cry of stand well back – Bogor would probably have been about right and you would certainly have heard the explosion from there.

Tarzan has been away and wasn’t he missed. Unfortunately there was not time to hear the full story of his trip to Irian Jaya – maybe next week? He did return in time to receive his mug for 650 runs and delighted us with a small joke set in Irian Jaya.

The run discussion produced the usual meaningless drivel with comments ranging from Hasshit (Rubber Turd) to wonderful run (Superbrat) to No Comment (Witless). Concorde thought the run was predictable but any run at Cibubur is predictable. Bolt-1-On complained (are you surprised) about the paper through crops and through the grave yard, both of which claims were disputed and for his sins B-1-O ended up on the ice. In the end the stand-in HM announced it a good run but not before Bolt—On received a good soaking.

On to the main event – the leaving of Inspector Gadget. Lickaclit was able to reveal how the Inspector sees himself and produced an almost life-size statue from some Eastern part of Indonesia. In all honesty there were some resemblance. There was the ceremonial award of the BIG ONE to Inspector Gadget, presumably because we can no longer afford the beer to fill it. Hardcase entertained us with a poem – Poem to a Penis. Konkrete Kock sang "Lewis is Leaving" to the tune (?) of "We are Sailing" and Gadget sang his version of "Twas on the Monday Morning". The circle continued for some time until finally "Hats off, Pots on the Floor" at about 8.20.