It has been another busy weekend with the band. On Saturday, we had the third of the four Majors we are attending, the European Championships in Inverclyde. On Sunday, we returned to the site of our big triumph of last year at the Callander Highland Games, which remained our best shot at glory for this year.
My goals for the weekend were three-fold: qualification at Inverclyde, a place at either of the two competitions, and to read at least two novels. (This last had nothing to do with piping, of course. It ties into another of my goals.)
The weather forecast was for sunny spells between heavy showers on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday morning, I looked out the window, and decided it was a day for sunblock. This proved to be a wise choice - there wasn't a hint of rain, and instead was blazing sunshine all day. As a consequence of my decision, the only impact is a slight deepening of the tan on my knees.
We went, we prepared, we waited. One of our younger pipers had to be dropped from competition - a problem with his pipes. He would be able to play in the final, if we qualified. This increased our determination. We had to do it for him.
We played. I thought it went well, on my side of the circle at least. But when we came off, the Pipe Major was raging. He'd obviously heard something I hadn't. Oh dear.
An hour later, the results were posted. We had come fourth in our qualifying group (of 15). We had qualified!
One down.
We waited some more. The pages in the first book passed. I ate lunch slightly early (breakfast had been at 5). The Pipe Major said to wake him at 2:30. We waited some more.
2:30 arrived, so we woke the Pipe Major. The band headed down to tuning. We made ready. The piper who had to be dropped the first time was brought back into the fold. Sadly, another piper had to be dropped - more trouble with pipes.
We played. It went well. When we came off, we were all more than happy with our performance. Could it be - could we actually come away from a Major with a place?
We waited for the march past. I finished that first book just as the time came to get ready. And so we did, and went on, and got our results.
We didn't come away with a place. In fact, we came twelvth in the final. Out of twelve. Still, as the goal for the day was qualification, it was still a successful day.
Sunday morning greeted me with rain. So, no need for sunblock, then.
The day began with a bout of frayed tempers, upset drummers, and general tension. One of our key drummers had decided he wasn't going to come out because... well, I'm not actually sure why not. As far as I can make out, he just couldn't be bothered. The effect of that was that another drummer, who had been supposed to be enjoying a day off, had to be drafted in at short notice. The Lead Drummer was understandably annoyed, as was the Pipe Major. And, unfortunately, the absent drummer's brother eventually got sick of fielding questions...
So, it was an auspicious day. We made our way to the competition, only to find that the bus couldn't park. The ground in the car park was too soft, so we'd never get back out. Instead, we had to grab whatever we needed for the full day, and then the driver would take it away for the day.
We trudged through the rain to the field, whereupon we identified a likely shelter from the storm. The Pipe Major went off to find out when we were playing, while the rest of us shivered. It turned out we would be first on, so we set about tuning up under this tent.
It transpired that they elected to move the competition off of the field and into the tent where we were tuning up. As we were first on, we were allowed to continue tuning there. And, when the time came, we played, and it was good.
After we had played, with nothing else to do, and only this tent to huddle under, I listened to the other bands. It was quite illuminating - suddenly it is clear how we can have been playing really well and still not been getting anywhere. Lots to think on there.
As the Grade 4 competition wound down, the sun came out. The rest of the day was then considerably more pleasant. We played again in the Grade 3 competition, but that's not really important. And then came the March Past and the results. Frankly, I didn't expect much - we might get fourth if we were lucky.
We won.
Yes, for the second year in a row, we won the Grade 4 competition at the Callander Highland Games. What's more, where there were only three bands last year, this year we came top of a field of seven, including our two closest rivals (geographically, that is). Score one for the good guys!
Two down.
On the way home, I finished the second of my novels for the weekend, and made a very small start on the third. Three down.
It was a good weekend.
#31: "Shadows Linger", by Glen Cook
#32: "For Your Eyes Only", by Ian Fleming
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