Bonjour mes TOSsers!

Hi Rabble, your GM here with a few bits and bytes of e-bollocks.

First, our thanks to Phrik Farang for updating the SH3 website, including a cool link to The Online Scum. Whatever we do with this new blog, the main site will probably remain the best place for archiving rehashes, photos, stats and so on.

And what do we do with this one? For a start, I’d like to suggest that hares post their misdirections here. It’s as easy as writing on the whiteboard at the Parlang. Easier in fact, since you don’t have to go looking for eraser and pen, or even drive into town. Once your misdirections are up here, we’ll make sure they get put up on the main site as well.

Apart from that, well, anything you want. Old or new photos, mini-rehashes, invites from other hashes, and links to any other news and events of interest. I’ve been trying to get a lot of postings up right away to give you an idea of the various directions we can go with this.

One comment to a post here talked about the possibility that TOS would “suffer the same fate” as the hard-copy Scum. Well I hope it does. I.e., enjoy a good long run and deliver lots of laughs. Nothing lasts forever, so let’s have a bit of fun while it does.

As far as the current state of SH3 in general, I think our main concern now has to be to get back to basics: 1) assuring a decent turnout every Saturday, and 2) giving them a satisfying run/walk, a good feed, and a not totally boring circle. One is no good without the other. Ironically our runs (and our food) are better than ever these days, even as our numbers continue to fall off.

A lot of it is just natural attrition. Songkhla isn’t exactly a boomtown these days. And the demographics are against us. The other day I mentioned to Opera that our attendance was going down and our average age was going up. “Everywhere,” he said, “every hash.” Hashing is a kind of generational thing, and its main generation – us – is entering serious geezerhood.

For years the committee has talked about ways to attract new runners. Frankly we have yet to find any effective way to do that. We’ll keep trying, but the most important thing in the meantime is to keep hold of the regular runners we do have. And maybe, if at all possible, to bring back some of those who have dropped out over the years for one reason or another.

To that end, I hope anybody with any concern or complaint, big or small, will feel free to air it, either publicly here or privately to me or any of the other committee members. Whether it’s about the runs or the brands of beer we stock, the shirts we give out or the way we run the circle – anything at all – let us know so we can do something about it. After I become power-mad in another few months it might be another story, but as of now I have absolutely no agenda here other than keeping as many people as possible satisfied with our Saturday afternoons, and keeping them coming back.

Finally, mark down October 24^th on your calendars. It’s our 28^th birthday and we think we’ve found a great mystery destination for an A-to-B run and party. On-on!