Helensburgh Highland Games 2015

Yesterday the band took part in the competition at the Helensburgh Highland Games. This was, again, one of the smaller events, but quite a nice one for all that. This was also one of the few competitions with no Grade 4A contest, meaning we played at Grade 4(B) and again at Grade 3. This gave us a rare opportunity to play our "four marches".

It was quite a nice day, with only a few light showers to mar the weather. And, unusually, it was a somewhat civilised start time - the bus picked us up at 9:45. Nice to actually get some sleep! (This was also the second of two "double headers" the band has this year - weekends when we've been playing on both the Saturday and the Sunday. I really don't like those.)

So, we went, we made ready, and we played. And when we came off I was convinced that the Pipe Major was about to say something - he had the same vibe as at Bathgate. And yet, there was no such reaction. Odd. (It did turn out that there was an explanation for that - nothing to do with our performance.)

Then there was a wait of two hours, and we played again. And another good performance, building on last week's successes. So, that's good.

In the end, we came third out of three in grade 4 (3rd for piping and 2nd for drumming), and third out of four in grade 3 (3rd and 4th). So, another two prizes, although one was courtesy of the two sweetest words in the English language.

Next week we don't have a competition. It was going to be Forres (site of the dread bus breakdown), but we elected not to go as we didn't think we'd have a drum corps. Then it was a fundraising event at the Kelpies in Falkirk, but in the meantime LC and I had made other plans.

And the weekend after is The Riding of the Marches in Annan, a competition that has generally been good to us.

This week's mug: The penultimate mug anecdote truly is a mug bearing an anecdote. Specifically, the mug bears the image of the Rooster of Barcelos, and the text of the story of how a dead rooster provided a miraculous sign of the innocence of a man condemned to hang for a crime he didn't commit. I got this one, not surprisingly, when I visited Lisbon some years ago, and I don't think I've ever actually used it!

Next week will be the final mug anecdote, and I have consequently saved my very favourite mug to feature in the last entry in the series. I'm sure you're all looking forward to it as much as I am... or at least looking forward to the end of it as much as I am!