And it all started out so well.........

Near Saigon Milk factory, nice weather, not too hot, and some nice countryside especially in the 2nd leg.

A first leg of 5km or so must have followed the Berlin Wall in parts, but before it was knocked down. Next came the increasingly common waterless water stop before a very scenic second leg with loops, forests and steep hills providing good opportunities for the shortcutters to earn themselves charges for the circle.

Oodles of paper and it has to be said, the lone running hare Pencil Dick did an admirable job of something that normally takes 2 people.

And so with a hurrah the thirsty pack ended the trail ready for beer. Alas the drinks were missing...as was the bus. "Ah yes, we've been here 30 or 40 times, the bus driver knows the way" said Pencil Dick over and over again, doing a great impersonation of a stuck record.

The brains trust convened to locate the bus. The bus was definitely somewhere, it was close, it was 11km away, it was this way, it was that way. Motorbikes wouldn't stop to give a lift - but would you stop for this rabble ?

Search parties were sent out and one motorbike went one way, one went another with Pencil Dick. And then it got dark. And still we waited. Some muppets even cheering at the sight of headlights through the gloom....which turned out to be a truck.

Finally, after well over an hour's waiting, the bus rumbled into view and the beer appeared.

The circle was led by stand-in GM Woofter. For losing the bus, Pencil Dick and Titantic Balls warmed the ice for a considerable period, so long infact that as Religious Advisor, Titanic Balls undertook his duties while still seated and chilled.

But it was left to Cock Baiter (visiting from Tokyo H3) to warm it with something else. Up went the shirt and onto the ice she went, chest first. Priceless.

There were the usual sinners, Mad Cow and AIT for competitive running, El Flatulente for flatulence , Mad Cow for offering to perform to stop some traffic and also joining the shortcutters (GE and El Flatulente).

The Europeans on the Hash, a.k a. the Eurotrash, made what's becoming their weekly appearance, this time rightly held responsible for effects of some dimwitted EU regulation on something or other.

The On-On was at Hoa Vien (just for a change eh ? ) followed by Number 5....and turned into a warmup for New Year's Eve merrymaking - with a few stragglers hanging on till midnight.

[Thanks to El Flatulente for the run report]