Well, it’s safe to say I’m really bad at this blogging thing. A month since my last post? That’s crazy! Terrible. Right so let’s catch up.
Crystal and Mick came to visit! They landed in Manchester, spent two days in York and then made their way on the train here to Edinburgh. We were all a little worried about them making it here on time because of the wide-spread flooding and landslides that were happening all along the rail line between York and Edinburgh. But with only a few minutes delay, we found them at the train station and proceeded to spend an awesome week with them. Rosslyn Chapel, Craigmillar Castle, Edinburgh Castle, a day out to St. Andrews, the Royal Yacht, underground tours, Build a Bear, Royal spotting and lots of shopping were highlights of their time with us. But the best by far was the morning we spent at the zoo. Brandon and I had yet to make it there and we’re so glad we waited so we could spend the time there with our friends. It is a beautiful zoo with amazing enclosures that we all thought were much better than we’ve seen before.
It's hard to be a panda
Mmmm bamboo
Meerkats
The chimpanzee exhibit
A baby pygmy hippo
Penguins!
These two traded positions sitting on their egg
The fabulous grassland with zebras
Crystal and Mick showing me their primate warning faces!
It felt like the week went by much, much too quickly. But I was struck by how easy it was for them to be here. I know that they were on vacation, but it just felt like normal…going for coffee and shopping in the mall was just like back home. It’s amazing to know that though we’re so far away, the people that are important to us in Canada are going to still be there when we return. One other major highlight was going to try on wedding dresses with Crystal. It’s amazing to have shared in that moment with her a few years ago and then to share it again when it was my turn in the dressing room!
We had a lovely breakfast at McDonald’s the morning they boarded their train headed back to Manchester. And as we waved goodbye on them platform I was so sad to see them go.
We had a couple of weeks to ourselves and then my brother Colin arrived for his visit on the 25th of July. He’d spent the two weeks prior enjoying a bus tour of Ireland and I think he was happy to be able to spread out a bit and do some laundry. The first couple of days we really took it easy but still managed to get around and see a lot of Edinburgh. Having been here before in 2008, he didn’t feel the need to see the castle which was fine by me. I had a good work schedule that week so we went to Holyrood Palace, Craigmillar Castle, Gilmerton Cove, Rosslyn Chapel, Queensferry to see the bridges and have a nice dinner, and shared all our favourite haunts with him. All three of us went to Loch Leven Castle one day and he had a great time on a Mary King’s Close tour and on a day long tour to Northumberland.
The major attraction for Colin’s visit however was our evening out at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Having friends in high places - some of my Calgary Highlanders band mates are playing in the show this year - I was able to get us free tickets for the preview performance night. Unfortunately Brandon got stuck at work so he wasn’t able to come with us but Colin and I had a great time. I’m not surprised that it sells out every year and that it is such a draw for the thousands of tourists who come to see it.
The Tattoo was a good way to end out his trip and Colin and I made our way to the airport early the next morning. He flew away to London to catch his connecting flight to Calgary and I returned home to catch a few more hours sleep before going to work. But again, as we said goodbye I was struck with how lucky we are to have had so many people spend time and money to come and see the life we’ve created here. I love that we’ve been the reason that people have come and fallen in love with Scotland. Visit Scotland really does owe us some royalties!
Switching gears just the morning after Colin left, I turned my attention back to pipe band. Saturday the 4th of August was the competition at North Berwick. Being the first day out for all the foreign bands in the lead up to World‘s week, we were excited to test our play against some new competition. We placed fourth behind three bands from the USA, Canada and New Zealand. North Berwick games also runs a “contest within a contest” called the Confined Result. This means the bands from the Lothian and Borders area are also judged against only each other. We came first in this result and first for drumming as well. It was so odd to see people we know from Canada there and hear accents that were really out of place. But I got to meet some of Brandon's old friends from the College of Piping in PEI which was great and because his band wasn't playing that day, he got to catch up and visit with loads of people.
That began the two week final push to the World Championships in Glasgow on August 11th. We practiced four nights the week before and I think we were all feeling pretty good, if not a little tired of each other, on Saturday morning. We arrived at the park, had some time to wander around and then got down to business tuning and warming up. It was finally our turn at the line at about 3:50 and we felt pretty good about the play when we left the circle. And then we waited. I wandered around the park with Wendy, a fellow tenor drummer, spent some time with Brandon as he was of course there with his band too, and kind of just enjoyed the strangely warm and sunny afternoon. Finally we marched into the massed band area and waited along with about 235 other bands - amounting to approximately 8000 players - for the results of the day.
A view of the grade one arena
Our brand new snare drums
We played for the junior drum major competition just after we finished playing our MSR. I stole this photo from a bandmate's mom on Facebook!
The Shotts and Dykehead drum corps putting on a show
Now it’s worth stating that it takes a very, very long time to get results at a Scottish competition. There are speeches from the chieftan and the town mayor and a representative from the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association. Then they announce the winners of the drum major’s competitions before they get to the bands. Prizes are awarded to the top six bands in every grade and on a day like the Worlds, there are eight grade categories. Each prize has a trophy or a plaque, each named for the group or person who has donated it and all those names are announced before the name of the band who’s won it. While this is all very important, but oh man it takes a long time to get to your grade!
A view from our place at the back of the massed band
I took this photo of the screen to show just how many people/bands there were on the field. The people under the screen are at the very back of the square.
On Saturday though, when they finally did get to grade 3a, we were ready to cheer when they said our name. Coming in at fifth place out of 24 bands, the City of Edinburgh Pipe Band! And typing that even now has me blinking away tears. Not only did I not in a million years expect to be playing in the World Championships, I would’ve laughed at anyone who said I’d be part of a prize winning band. There were hugs all around and loads of happy faces and photos with our trophy when the pipe major made it back through the crowd.
Hooray!
Me and Wendy
Sharing the day with Brandon was amazing even though we didn’t get to spend all that much time together. His band, being grade one had to play twice throughout the day and there was much, much more pressure there. Tickets to sit in the bleachers to watch the grade one contest run for about 25 Pounds and were sold out by the Tuesday before. But the time we did get together was great. I’m so amazingly proud to see him in his uniform and to watch him tuning drones and being such a huge part of what ended up a ninth place finish for Fife Constabulary. He’s put so much work and effort, both physically and emotionally into the band. That’s one thing I love about him - he puts his whole self into everything he commits to. And to be there in Glasgow Green together so many months after we saw it in October from the top of a city tour bus on a really, really tough day was fabulous. Add in the band uniforms and it was positively brilliant! But the season isn’t through yet. Two weeks from now we will be playing at the Cowal Gathering where we get to put the kilts on and do it all over again.
The best photo of the day!
One thing we both noticed though is that being there in Glasgow for the Worlds wasn’t quite as big of a deal as we thought it was going to be. When it all comes down to it, it’s just another games day…there’s just bigger TV cameras and waaaaaay more people.
