Glasgow Done - Day 14

 Coffee after a nice sleep in although I did not sleep well…. Showers and packed up all our stuff. Ordered an Uber to the airport to get our rental car.  We will return in 6 days to fly out so this made the most sense. 

Car rental straight forward with an upgrade for 10£ a day.  We had to wait a bit for the car to be ready as we were a bit early. Sadly this wait went on and on before we finally got our car. Due to the delay, we were able to negotiate an extra driver (Kelly) at no cost and they gave us a 20% discount. We will take it! We videoed the car for damage and then loaded it all up with quick access to our water bottles and treats. Away at 12:25. 

 

Several accidents along the way slowed our progress and we arrived in Pitlochry just before 3:00.  A stop at the chipper for a drink and food... and a short wander through some shops. Out of Pitlochry at 16:00

 

Next stop was in Aviemore where we grabbed some beverages at the local Aldi store.  

 

We then took the back way through to the Auldearn Antique Shop as this cuts off a fair amount of time.... we learned this in 1994 when we where here then. Plus it’s very eerie looking drive 😂

The A939 route.

We arrived at 6pm... well past our anticipated time but still a good trip. I was not feeling very well, exhausted and lacking any energy. We met Vicki and got settled in. We also met Amy, Euan's partner who lives here as well.  Bags unloaded and then we had a drink with Roger when he arrived home. It's a busy place with lots of activity.

 

 

Shops

House

The following pictures come from the shops and the old Church building which is now the main antique shop. Even the building is an antique as it was built in 1840.

Antique Store

More Antiques

I was still not feeling well so I excused myself and headed up to my bed.  Lights out! 

 

Kelly enjoyed a nice dinner and met Euan when he got home. She eventually retired around 10pm. 

 

Weather = 27ºC in Pitlochry and cooled to 16ºC once over the hill into Aulderan. 

Post Worlds - Day 13

 A sleep in day.....  Kelly made coffee and we got caught up on some of the band chatter that was going on via facebook etc.  The RSPBA has published the summary sheets and North Stratton had actually finished in 2nd place in the Medley portion of the competition. They has 2's across the board with the exception of one piping judge who placed them 6th.  :-(   The RSPBA scores are here and simply select grade 2 medley to see it.

We have also been following the Air Canada Flight Attendant strike activity as our return trip from London is booked with them. As expected, the government has now stepped in and will force binding arbitration at some point in the near future. Things should return to some semblance of normal by the time we return home... hopefully! Check that... seems the Flight Attendants are going to ignore the back to work order... let the chaos continue as the stage moves to the legal side. 

We each had a shower, dressed and then took a short walk down the street to a small cafe for brunch. It's the Times Square Glasgow and is actually a full on pub as well... who knew! The food was good. We have been in touch with Cody and his timing was perfect as he walked in the pub door as we finished up breakfast. 

We took him over to our flat and gave him a quick tour. We ended up chatting for a couple hours over a cool beverage. He headed off to buy some souvenirs and we discussed a possible meet up at the Park Bar. This is a tradition for many players following the competition.

Kelly went out to shop while I relaxed at the flat... feeling a bit draggy as the week is catching up to me!

The Corinthian

Eye candy :-)

Another one.

Cody did end up at the Park Bar (no suprise!) but said it was an absolute zoo... so we decided to skip it and head to an early dinner at the Italian Restaurant called Amore Restorante. We had been there in 2019 and enjoyed it then. Fantastic mussels for myself and Kelly had a Portabello Pizza.... very good. 

Back at the flat, we started packing up our bags as we start the next chapter in our trip to Scotland.  

 Steps: 4500 (Dave) and 9000 for the shopper!

 Weather - scattered cloud with 24ºc temps!! Crazy for Scotland.

Day Two of the Worlds - Day 12

 Away we go for the big day at Glasgow Green. Once again we walked along the Clyde to the entrance and quickly entered the park. It was packed compared to yesterday and many bands were preparing to compete. Our focus was on watching North Stratton warm up and compete in the MSR comp at 10:39 this morning. 

 We will then go into the Grade 1 Arena grandstands and watch their MSR competition.

Once through the gate, we managed to find the band bus and met up with Cody and got the details on where they would warm up. Kelly and I grabbed a bacon butty at one of the many food trucks that lined the grounds and then wandered around a few stalls. 

We found the band shortly afterwards (yellow drums are easy to spot!) and split up. Kelly went and found a spot at Arena 2 and prepared to record and I went to take pics at the tune up area, final tuning then I followed them into the arena.  

 

Getting the pipe section ready.

Drummers run though their set

At the line.

Playing the MSR set in the arena.

Tuning went well and the band’s performance in the circle seemed solid to my ear. Good sound, well controlled and nice breaks. Overall I think they liked it but remained business like after as they still have the medley this afternoon. 

We went over to the grandstand and found our seats for the Grade 1 MSR competition. 

 

View from our seats

 

Support for SFU

SFU coming into the circle.

My pics…. I&D, FM, SFU Boghall 

 

We found Jenny and Shaun along with Jill & Drew and headed to the beer garden.  A good catch up with them and it was time for the Medley.  On the way, I stopped at Arena 2 and watched Seattle’s Cascadia PB play while Kelly hit the stalls. 

We watched a few bands then skipped out and watched North Stratton warm up for their medley in Arena 2.  They made two piper cuts and then quickly formed up. Another one cut himself due to a coughing fit just before the line. Kelly re-positioned to the back of the arena and I followed them into the circle.  Both are uploaded to FB on our respective pages. Not the best sound quality but the band did sound good. 

 

Medley tuning

 

They all seemed pretty happy with it but it’s really in the judges hands at this point. A solid effort and they should be proud. We watched more of the grade 1’s and then bailed to the beer tent to get out of the sun. Kelly was burning up. 

We found North Stratton and enjoyed a beverage with Cody and Peter Aumonier.  We also thanked PM Hugh Armstrong for letting us tag along with the band.  The awards are scheduled for 5:30 pm so we had a bit of time.

The official results and closing ceremony has now moved to 6 pm. So we made our way over to the grandstand to take our seats, great view of the Green.

It’s now 6:30 and the massed band has just marched down the hill to Scotland the Brave. They made some announcements, a speech by the chieftain and then presented the awards. 

Massed bands & awards

 Grade  1 - Inveraray, Field Marshall, Shotts & Dykehead, SFU, Police Scotland Fife  

 

Inveraray & District - BBC youtube here 

 

Grade 2 - Glasgow Sky, City of Dunedin, Ulster Scottish, North Stratton

Following the awards, we slipped out by the busses and headed home. We picked up some noodle boxes for a take away dinner at the flat. 

 We are exhausted and we just watched!!

Steps 10,600

Morning weather was overcast but 20ºc and the afternoon was broken cloud that cleared off and 25ºc. No rain.

 

Day One of the Worlds - Day 11

The start of the two day event begins today with Grade #1 action in Arena 1 with all bands playing an MSR and then later a Medley. Here is the draw......

Day one - MSR

Draw Time Band 

1 09:30 Manawatu Scottish 

2 09:38 Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia

3 09:46 Scottish Power 

4 09:54 Police Scotland Fife

5 10:02 Closkelt 

6 10:10 Johnstone 

7 10:18 Inveraray and District 

8 10:26 St Thomas Alumni 

9 10:34 78th Fraser Highlanders 

10 10:42 St Laurence O'Toole 

11 10:50 Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia 

12 10:58 Simon Fraser University 

13 11:06 Field Marshal Montgomery 

14 11:14 Ravara 

Day one - Medley

Draw Time Band

1 11:50 Manawatu Scottish 

2 12:00 Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia 

3 12:10 Scottish Power 

4 12:20 Police Scotland Fife 

5 12:30 Closkelt

6 12:40 Johnstone 

7 12:50 Inveraray and District 

8 13:00 St Thomas Alumni 

9 13:10 78th Fraser Highlanders 

10 13:20 St Laurence O'Toole 

11 13:30 Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia 

12 13:40 Simon Fraser University 

13 13:50 Field Marshal Montgomery 

14 14:00 Ravara

Action also begins for both the Juvenile A and B Bands at 3:05 this afternoon. 

We had a coffee and prepared my backpack for the day. Rain gear, water bottle etc. and away we went. Forecast is for sunny weather with a chance of rain. A quick walk along the Clyde and we soon found the main entrance. We have always been on a bus in previous worlds so this was a new process to us 😂. 

We walked over to Arena 1 and grabbed a good corner spot a few rows up. There were many familiar faces close by with the Hilder's, Parkes and other judges doing a mock adjudication. We were clearly in a good listening spot. 

 

Judge training underway.

 Great story here….. St Thomas Alumni has a blind piper who is lead in by an escort. Once they march in and form up the circle, the escort leaves and they continue to play their set. For the breaks into the next tune, the piper beside him taps his foot on the pipers foot to the beat. Very inspiring!

St Thomas Alumni 

Field Marshal Montgomery

Simon Fraser University at the line.

 

The bands all played and I gave it to FM with SFU second and I & D third … but I’m not a trained judge 😂

Kelly had slipped out and picked up some shirts from I & D that had been ordered along with some Worlds shirts. She ran into Jill and Drew Mackay and had a quick catch up. We will hopefully meet up later. 

We sat right behind Peter Aumonier and during the break, asked about the judging group sitting beside us. It is part of continuing education program for new judges. Gives them a chance get feedback etc. on their efforts to be accurate with comments and maintaining impartiality. 

 

I went over and had a great conversation with the camera boom operator who explained how the camera functioned and what shots they got from it. It is really an indoor camera but it has been adapter for this venue. Very interesting.

The Medley competition started right on time and we watched as each of the bands came up to the line and then marched into the circle playing their competition tunes.

My “personal” placing so far… I & D, FM, SFU, Boghall, Revara, Shotts, St Thomas Alumni, SLOT, Closkelt 

We will have to await the results tomorrow to see how close I was in these MSR & Medley predictions:-) 

After the medley competition, we went over to the Babbity Bowster Pub for a late lunch and a pint with Jill and Drew. We got caught up on their recent hike of the West Highland Way along with piping activities, family etc. Great to see them. 

 

Killing the thirst at the Babbity Bowster

Cody arrived and joined us for a cool beverage. North Stratton had a band practice at 2:00 pm and he was exhausted from hiking to a grass covered park by the old Todd Bar. He is taking it easy today so only one pint for him and he was off to his flat at Collegelands. 

 

We headed home as the Mackay's caught a train back to Sterling. 

 

For those interested... you can see the complete day one at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuaycOtQ1jQ 

 

 

 

 It was a great start to the competition and we are looking forward to even more action on the green tomorrow with 207 bands competing in numerous grades and age groups. The Grade 1 bands play a different MSR and Medley in front of a different set of judges. We bought seating in the grandstand so expecting a great experience. 

 

North Stratton plays an MSR at 10:39 and then a Medley at 3:09 in Arena 2. We will be there to support them.  

 

Steps - 6,500 - yep sitting in a chair watching pipe bands :-) 

 

Mixed cloud with 23ºc temps- no rain and it felt a lot hotter when the sun was out!