Well, dear readers, how much attention do you give to reports of runs you did not join? Today we were barely more than a dozen, though the start was central and the rain more or less stopped at 11 a.m., as it does so often.  Perhaps you felt you had been here before?  Indeed, no hare could ever set a wholly original trail from the Star (car park as usual full before 1230).  And Miss Bean did her best to do something new; obviously we had been everywhere previously, but the close took us aback, a “short cut” – by no means the shortest possible from there, and a main trail off in a quite counter-intuitive direction.  I took the short cut with Bolshie, on his first trail with us as a paid-up member; when we got back we found Tosser and Peay had out-smarted us and got in before us. Stevie Blunder, as Checking Chicken, Bigfoot, Atalanta, J. Arthur, and I believe Master Bates remained on flour.  I should add Little White Buss, making one of his rare and welcome returns; if Alouette was with us I did not see her.  Atalanta claims she was only a few minutes late, but it was almost noon before she caught up with us, so difficult were the checks to solve; the early rain had in fact almost obliterated the earlier part of the out-trail.  Thereafter of course she and Bigfoot were our principal solvers of checks.  As for the original short cur which the hare intended, I am quite uncertain who followed it or where it went; Master Bates, when he found us, had thought till then he was part of it.

  Mr Blunder assured us a green area with no ruins visible anywhere was in fact the site of a Roman villa; we just had to take his word for it. Bolshie had proved adept at solving Miss Bean’s checks; he will take a prominent place among our recognised front-runners.  Assumably the current sense of his handle is derived from Bolshevik, though they never to my knowledge behaved in an obstreperous fashion; the word is derived from the Russian for “big” – as in the Ballet.

  The pub has locked the gate giving direct access to Prince’s Coverts, the alternative area for trails from the Star, but by now Surrey have adequately hashed that area too. Elsewhere in future!

  Sterner forms of Protestantism do not celebrate Christmas; the Puritans said there was no scriptural warrant for doing so, though they certainly did not observe the ritual slaughter which Holy Writ does prescribe. They really meant it smacked of Papistry. In the States it took centuries before Christmas became important. Nowadays the event is doubtless seen primarily as celebrating the mid-winter solstice, and preferably written Xmas, though in fact the X is derived form the Greek letter χ or chi, the first letter in Christ’s name. The colours red and white now associated with the season are derived from Santa Claus, whom few associate any longer with St Nicholas or Christianity. American Jews, well and away the most successful song-writers, have ensured that many seasonal jingles have nothing to do with Christ, though here carols of genuine religious origin remain popular. Prince Albert and Charles Dickens are credited with the importance still given to our feasting at this season, but I suspect the story is more complex. Millions still tune in to the services from King’s College, which often include carols in Latin, or both Latin and English, such as In Dulce Jubilo.

  On On, FRB