Mother Brown drew a very respectable number of hashers to his trail, World Cup or not; we were nearer 30 than 20, though this includes the half-dozen or so who do not run the trail. People did not seem to remember Denis Pichon, 25 years ago a stalwart of our hash; his son accompanied me today, and courteous hashers such as First On made him welcome.

  Conscious of interest in football, and of a plea from Le Pro (who was not however with us), Mother Brown set a short trail, 2.8 miles, which took us 45 minutes, and the Circle was expedited; since I live quite near Chobham, I could watch the last half-hour of the game live.  Women seem as ruthless as men in their tackling, and indulge in the same pantomime of pain (when did you see a rugby player writhing in all-too visible agony?); my other observation on the match was that attack is an excellent form of defence.  To protect their lead, the Spanish were constantly taking the ball deep into English territory.

  Now, the trail.  We have been on Chobham Common often, of course, but Mother Brown kept us further south than is customary; in his hare-talk he confused us admirably by describing the trail as both clockwise and anti-clockwise, so that nothing was too familiar, and for a good while we were genuinely in doubt: left-hander or right-hander? This southern part of the Common has very few hills, and is well-provided with duck-boards, though of course there was today very little shiggy.  The solutions were usually quite near the check circles, and often found by Atalanta (on time today!), though at one place all those checking found nothing, and it was Speedy Humper who noticed a smaller path which no one had checked out.  Not many back-checks: Mother Brown rather gave the game away at one by hanging back from where we were, lurking meaningfully.

  We had a woman running with us – I ought to remember her handle, but do not [Ed – Nickerless]– who found favour by losing Wally:  I had not even realised Wally was present.  He had not been there at the start. Well, there were obviously late arrivals; the Circle was well under way when Kelinchi appeared with Tosser, neither having been seen on the trail.  Popeye as RA called in ‘IsKnees and Chastity Belt, apparently for canoodling in their car, which seems mildly implausible.  Raffles was today’s only dog, who did manage to find mud, and annoyed our Uncle Gerry by his attempts to sink a mine-shaft where the Circle was being held.

  Americans go to church far more than Europeans do, but ignore Christian principles where these are in conflict with prevailing customs and ideas, such as the worship of wealth.  I assume Luke’s gospel is dismissed in its entirety.  “(Money, that tainted thing;” “The rich he hath sent empty away”). This makes it possible for American churchgoers to express enthusiasm for the ideas of Ayn Rand, who opposed altruism as an outlier of socialism: individuals must put themselves first and society nowhere.  Indeed, she was hostile to all forms of religion, which appears not to faze her American admirers (she has little pull outside the States).  Mrs Thatcher’s dismissal, denial, of society, (“just individual men and women “) would have appealed to Ayn Rand.  The individual is everything.  Personally I think these are disastrous principles, and prefer the congenial, social warmth of the hash, non-competitive and cheeky with officialdom.  The good life is one which puts others first.

On On, FRB