It was our own fault that at the Sheaf Lane footbridge we failed to spot the blob of flour telling us where the trail continued. Elsewhere pranksters had – rather half-heartedly – obliterated the flour; but really we all knew where to go.

  This terrain must be the best-hashed in Surrey; and of course if we are to use all three areas, there are only a very limited number of places to cross the railway line, Sandy Lane and the A3. Well, for the A3 there are just the two bridges.

  Speaking of Sandy Lane, which is where Atalanta lives, she could not help with the trail today, caught by Covid, though not, I am told, especially unwell. So Twinkletoes addressed us alone at the start, or would have done if Miss Bean had let her. She did manage to announce the length as 4 miles (J. Arthur reported it as 4.4). Our Joint Master was busy introducing us to a number of younger runners, all but one new to hashing, which might be a real shot in the arm for Surrey if they enjoyed our company; and also, Petal got an e-mail from a resident, intrigued by our activity, asking to join us.

  Where the trail had been rubbed out the runners I was with – First On, Too Posh, Le Pro, Master Bates, for example – were assisted by Captain Webb as checking chicken, who also offered a short cut in the northern stretch of the trail, though few took it. When we got back to Oxshott station it was not apparent where the flour continued, so I led a few runners over the station bridge and back via Goldrings Road and Holtwood Road, which is not what the hares intended.

Others were more punctilious and did find the intended trail. The rain, long promised, held off for the Circle, which happened in sunshine on what appeared to be a double five-a-side football pitch for very young players.

  It is very good that these social clusters are enriched by non-running hashers of note and distinction, today out in force: Clever Trevor, Low Profile, Lord Raleigh, Teddy Bear, ‘Ardon Provocateur. Would it not be good if we also kept the young runners out with us! We were almost 40 in all, as the Surrey Hash used to be in earlier years. So, many thanks to our hares!

  Jacob Rees-Mogg described the ruling on prorogation by the Supreme Court as “Baroness Hale bringing politics into the judiciary”. The PM had not asked his own Attorney-General for legal advice; he would have been told that Parliament is supreme, not the government. I assume what Rees-Mogg meant was that the referendum vote to leave the EU over-rode the sovereignty of Parliament, though all the voters had said was “Leave!”; they had not authorised the no-deal exit which the fanatics then looked for. He and Nadine Dorries are among the very few who still think Johnson could do no wrong, airbrushing out the failure to take the border with Ireland into account. The question in a referendum must be simple, but political decisions will very seldom be simple in practice; this one was not. UK referendums are very rare: two on the EU (1975, 2016) and one in 2011 on voting systems. Cameron is not the only leader to depart in dudgeon after a referendum; de Gaulle went off miffed in 1969, his first rebuff at the polls. Usually (the death penalty, legalising homosexuality) MPs are decades ahead of the electorate; the present Parliament is distinctly less impressive.

  On On, FRB