Alex, hot dark night with a slight chance of stairs and a good chance of ghosts
If ever you might entertain the idea of walking around some dark corridors of an old Fort type of building, in the pitch-black darkness, in the hopes of bumping into ghosts that go BOO in the Night, where would you go? Well, you might consider signing up for the HHH Halloween Hash !!
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The first order of business for the day, now that our galley cupboards and fridge/freezers were all wiped clean and stuffs re-assembled, was to go shopping, and fill 'em up some more !! We needed everything from the basics (ketchup, mustard, mayo) types of things, to fresh fruit and veggies and meats.
We were both agreed that we would be trying to be a bit more wheat-less, carb-conscious, and sugar-free, and after three weeks of feasting on fried-carb-rich-full-of-sugar type of North American Goodies, it was time to get back to eating more fresh and much less carb-y. One meal at a time, was our strategy!
As I may have alluded to many times before, shopping whilst in Camp Grenada, is not for the faint of heart. Shopping Buses come by on Tuesdays and Fridays, cram people in the bus, take you on the expected circle route (Bank, IGA, Marketing Board, and CK's) and your guess is as good as mine, as to whether you'll get the list of items on your list. Perhaps that's another blog in the coming? However, this time we got ourselves a private bus as we had a few extra errands to run, and life was a whole lot smoother and a whole less crowded.
By the time we got back to
Banyan, put the bags and bags and bags of stuff away, sweated buckets while doing so, muttering and nattering that we "bought SO MUCH", and yet grateful at the availability to have been able to do so, we then looked at each other quizzically with a wondering, "Gee, what's for lunch?" type of question.
Late afternoon had us busy getting ready for the Hash House Harriers Halloween Hash, a special Hash being held on a Special Night, and the idea of a group costume quickly emerged.
Since many of us had recently had work done at Spice Island Marine, and were now proudly sporting the most expensive T-shirts as a result, we figured we could dress up as Spice Island Marine Yard Workers.
We had a few differences to explain. Malcolm was in White, and he was quickly crowned The Yard Manager. And then there was Dalynn & Glen, also in white, playing the part of unsuspecting cruisers who were having work done on their boat.. and were, with time, getting more and more broke as a result, as you might be able to spot with their empty pockets turned inside out.
The meeting point was by Sails Restaurant in the far end of the Carenage, and the instructions were given, all spooky and ghostly like,
to all who were willing to listen.
By the time "On On" was yelled, the costumed group of Hashers stampeded their way around the bay and up the steep set of stairs,
and it wasn't long before we were huffing and puffing, our three-weeks-away-from-this-OMG-give-me-a-break thighs screaming in protest as we climbed the stairs, one by one, further and further up.
I cannot even tell you how many times we climbed UP the stairs, and walked down the hills to the water, and back UP more stairs and back down the hills, each time thinking, damn, we must be lost to the Fort, but hell-no, the flour-ed arrow had us going back DOWN to the bay, and so on, and so on, and so on, or should I say, and so UP, and so UP and SO UP !!
The blackness of night descended sometime after the second sets of up and it was pitch black as we circled through the vibrancy that was Friday night in down-town St-Georges, trying to shuffle the crowd around so we could spot the arrows of flour between hordes of feet, that would tell us which way to go.
The trails led us through the
spooky gravestones of cracked cement caskets that comprised the cemetery. Perfect, but watch your step !!
And would you believe, we couldn't believe the amount of people working in the cemetery yards at that time of night (you can see some of the caskets are freshly painted white)!!
The Hash was described as no hills type of trail, and well, we found one hill that led us straight up to this rising steeple of a church,
and then finally (!!!) the sudden apparition of the FortKeeper,
The HHH had been granted permission for us to walk through these hallowed and horrific historyed halls of Fort George
allowing the masked entities to scare us as we screamed and sweated our way by. The walk back down had us passing by the hospital, with its open window rooms and patients laying on their beds. Sorta creepy too.
We returned back down to Sea Level and The Start, which was now The End, signed back in, and enjoyed the habitual cold beer. No one knew anything about food and it was awhile before any of that got sorted out. After standing it line for a Very Long Time, with no styrofoam containers of good-smelling goodness emerging from the restaurant kitchen, we gave up and had another beer instead. I tried to get a rum punch but that involved being re-drected to another Long Line and well, it was time to head back anyways.
We went to bed that night, totally spooked out, tired out, still hungry but our hearts full of laughter and ghastly ghoulish good times.
Note: Apologies for the lack of photos, my camera is mis-behaving !!