It was another long weekend for the band, being our second Championship of the season (out of four), and it was a good weekend. I don't have time to tell the whole story in detail, so the highlights:
The bus left at 4am, which meant getting up at 2:30. This was not at all fun, especially since I can very seldom sleep on a moving bus. Next year, the suggestion is that we'll travel up on the Friday and stay two nights, which would indeed be better - but would also be much more expensive.
We played really well in the qualifier, giving our best performance of the year. In fact, we came 3rd overall, being 3rd and 4th for piping, 3rd for drumming, and 3rd for ensemble. We therefore qualified with flying colours. And given that that was our goal for the weekend, that was already a success.
We played reasonably well in the final, though not quite as well. In the end, we came 7th overall, being 5th and 6th for piping, 6th for drumming, and 7th for ensemble. Sadly, we were actually only a single point away from winning a prize. Which was a really good result, and yet still quite hard to bear.
The hotel was fine - it was a Holiday Inn in Inverness and did what was needed. The Premier Inn is indeed better, and especially the breakfast is better, but not by a huge amount. And since the Premier Inn breakfast is extra while the Holiday Inn is not, that's a consideration (especially with 35 people on the bus, several of whom may or may not have wanted breakfast).
And that was the weekend. We went, we played, we came back, and it was a good time. Huzzah!
The next competition is not for a couple of weeks now - we have a Gala Day on the 16th of July, then Paisley on the 23rd, and then the Scottish Championships on the 30th.
#33: "Doctor Who: City of Death", by James Goss
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