Pipes!

The World Piping Contest
Now that we had arrived back in Edinburgh, we could finally catch on our sleep and take life easier...for at least a couple of days. This being the day before the tour with Mr. Alex Beaton begins, I have scheduled a day of reasonable leisure. For the most part this will be a day at the World Piping Championships held in Glasgow. And, as a bonus, this is the day Amy is to join me for the tour. And, to my pleasure, I found on our arrival yestereve that Linda Irvin, Alex's companion and my good friend, was here for the day. She had accompanied Alex on an expeditionary trip to Ireland the previous week in preparation for his first two week tour of that country next June. (I am delighted to say that Amy and I are booked for his inaugural tour and are looking forward even now with great anticipation.)

The plan for the day is to drive from Edinburgh to Glasgow, a journey of less than an hour, drop Linda off to do some shopping, return Alex's rental car to the Glasgow airport and meet Linda at the piping contest. Along with Alex, Linda and myself, Paul Alexander has decided to join us for the day from the tour group. After a brief consideration, I decided that I would prefer Linda's company and, so, Alex, after directing us to the contest location, dropped us off at a convenient location in the downtown area of Glasgow. We made our way along the shopping boulevard with Linda making several purchases for herself and her son and, with some lively conversation, we soon arrive at the appointed meeting place where we have several minutes wait until Alex and Paul finally make their appearance.

We wound through the vendor areas and eventually made our way to the viewing stands for the Grade 1 competition, the crème de la crème as it were. We were treated to twelve of the best piping groups in the entire world. I must say that the Scots do take their piping seriously for they had not one, but two huge screens set up with three cameras covering the Grade 1 group only. This added immensely to the enjoyment of the competition since you could see the pipers “up close and personal” as each group would march onto the field, form up in a circle and play a medley of tunes. Eventually, the group Simon Fraser Pipes and Drums from Vancouver, British Columbia, was crowned champion. This was, in fact, Alex's pick from the beginning and he was pleased with their win.

Before closing out this excellent competition, I must add that I partook of a meat pie. Now, being in Scotland, I expected nothing less than an excellent pie just as I had witnessed excellent piping. Much to my surprise, the pie was not only deep fried, but practically burnt. And when I asked the vendor to hold the chips (fries, that is), he practically refused to sell me anything until I explained that I would pay full price, chips or no. (I do believe part of the problem was his ability to understand my “southern Scottish” accent.) Fortunately, I have had excellent meat pies in the past here in Scotland and this will not curtail me from partaking in the future, but I probably will not again purchase one that is fried.

After the competition, we trekked to the nearest train station to catch the local back to Edinburgh. Amy and I had ridden the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow on our previous trip when her departure time was much earlier that the remainder of the group. At that time we had a lovely ride at the early morning hour. This time, due to the weekend traffic, we were forced to stand the entire trip. However, we made the journey without event and, after catching a taxi to the hotel, I was more than ready to have dinner with Alex, Linda and Amy.

Well, Mr. Burns (you remember him from my trip over several days ago) once again stepped in to foil my plans. I learned as I entered the hotel that Amy and her traveling companion, Erin Donovan, had yet to arrive at the hotel! I went straight to my room and called the office of Continental Airlines and learned that, due to weather problems, they had missed their flight from Newark to Edinburgh. (I know this is beginning to sound like I concocted this story just for the shock value, but believe me, that is not the case.) On further inquiry, I learned that they had been put on standby for both flights that evening out of Newark, being the 7:50 and the 10:15. However, the 7:50 flight was booked completely and the the 10:15 flight was already overbooked. The chances of them leaving out on Saturday night and arriving Sunday morning looked tenuous at best. Should they miss the Saturday flights, they were definitely booked on the Sunday night 7:50 flight that was scheduled to arrive Monday morning at 7:50am.

At that point, having no other way to communicate with Amy, I elected to purchase a 24 hour service on the local wireless Internet. While the price was exorbitant (nearly $30US for the 24 hour period), it was the only way I knew to communicate. So I sent her a series of text messages assuring her that I was aware of her situation and would continue to check with the airlines to stay abreast of their future. I encouraged her to email me if possible.

With that, my fifth day in Scotland came to an end. With visions of deja vu in my head, I retired for the night with the knowledge that there was nothing more I could do until the morrow when I would learn whether or not they were actually aboard either of the incoming flights