Setting A Trail

When I was a little kid, one of my favourite games at Brownies was Hares and Hounds. A couple of the older girls would be sent out to set the trail using sticks and grasses to make arrows to point the way.

Fast forward 20 years to my arrival in Hong Kong and my astonishment in finding that many of my colleagues (both male and female) continued this tradition and were members of various Hash House Harriers. There the arrows were drawn on the pavements in chalk. Although by that time I had lost any interest in my childhood game, I was tempted (but didn't succumb) by a Hash in Chiang Mai where one ran (or walked or staggered) from one hostelry to the next!

Chalk has now given way to other trail markers, at least it has here in Cyprus. When we're out walking we frequently find piles of shredded paper or blue and red spots like this...the hash was 2 weeks ago and it has rained heavily since, but the marker remains.

Before this, they used flour, but they had to stop that when their trail setting caused a scare. Piles of white powder were found on street corners in Larnaca. The police and emergency services were called and the main streets of the town were closed whilst they determined if the substance was a biological weapon or not! That's a true story:)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.