OK so this will probably be my last post for this vacation, unless you all want to hear some imaginary things that I didn't do, but whatever.
So today was sort of a lazy morning. There wasn't much of a rush to get packed because the flight wasn't until 3:15PM. So I had one more hotel shower so I wouldn't stink like everyone else always seems to on the plane.
So luggage packed, everything organized, I'm stinkin' pretty and my hair looks awesome. I'm ready to go. Wheeled the luggage down to the foyer and checked out. Every step I take is one more closer to Canada. OH BOY! I CAN'T WAIT!
Then comes the 5 block walk to the "underground". It is how they say "The subway that travels underground". Brilliant! (Yes that was sarcasm)
OK so the luggage was starting to get sort of heavy after two blocks. I have been dragging this stuff for almost two weeks. You would think I would have built up some muscle by now. NOT A CHANCE! I was aching everywhere! Finally, the station. Oh what's this? Stairs? WONDERFUL! Not just any stairs though... there had to be over a thousand of them! Then of course there was an issue with the place I had to go, so they created a nice little detour. More friggin stairs! Finally on the train. Had to only do two transfers, no sweat! Wait, is that sweat? YES! It was like an oven down there! Transfer... Yep, more stairs. Wait? Crap wrong train! Get off on the next exit to flip back to the other station... what's this? UGH another 3000 stairs to just go back one station! SHOOT ME NOW! Physically exhausted, I've never wanted to be mugged for my belongings so much in my whole life! Anyway, to kill off the redundancy, there were more and more stairs until finally something that almost made me cry. There was an escalator at the end of the tunnel. I thought for sure it was going to heaven! It felt like it, so it must have been true.
Finally we get to the train shuttles to Heathrow Airport. Purchase the tickets and make it through the gate and the guy says, Oh you better hurry, the train is about to... ugh it's leaving right now. Sorry, you have to wait about 30 minutes for the next one.
Do you ever have one of those times in your life when you want to punch someone just because they're close enough? I didn't do it, but I think it would have felt great.
OK so an upgraded ticket purchased to catch the express... and we're off!
The shuttle was uneventful so I nodded off for about 10 minutes. That will be the last time I sleep for the day. We get to the airport early now, because the train was supposed to kill time for us, so instead we were really really early because of the express. Kelly and I got a sandwich. (Mostly because I blogged earlier that that's why we were going to London) I looked at three different places, but they all looked soggy. Then I went back to the first place and the woman brought out some fresh tuna and cucumber on a baguettes! I snatched one up and pranced proudly to the cash. No soggy bun for me!
OK so after about an hour of wasting time we boarded the plane. This is where the fun really begins. We found our seats, right side window and isle. In front of us were two noisy kids that were jumping around in their seats... UGH. Oh, then one up and to the left was a crying baby! This couldn't possibly Get. Any. Worse.... Oh wait... Yes, it could! There was a 4 year-old child jumping on his seat and grabbing at the woman (Complete stranger) in front of him while his parents totally ignored it. RAH! I made the plan right then and there, if that little creep even tries to do that with me, I'll punch his father right in the neck! (Not really, but I was going to do something about it). It took forever for the plane to take off. The whole while I that four-year-old was getting worse! Screaming, whining and being totally disrespectful to his parents. I put on my earphones, turned up the music and drowned them all out. I don't know how long I did that for, but I had to pee, so I got up and went. While I was gone, that kid switched places with one of his brothers directly in front of me. He was really bothering Kelly and I was gone for about 15 minutes because I had to wait for the stupid food cart to get out of the way. When I sat down THAT KID stood up on his seat and stared at me! OH MY GOSH! So I looked at him with the most evil hateful mean nasty yucky gross... did I mention hate? Evil? Then his eyebrows furrowed and he sunk back into his chair for a few minutes SUCCESS!!! Wait, he's back up!? CRAP! NOW HE'S MESSING WITH MY SCREEN! Screw it, I'm going to fight his father after all! I grabbed the kids hand and removed it from my screen, lifted it over his head and said with the most guttural mean but firm voice (without yelling) SSSSTOP! That did it! He never attempted one more interaction with either Kelly or me! YAH! I'm BRILLIANT! His mother gave me a look, but I didn't care one bit. It should have been her doing it anyway, not me! He continued to be annoying to everyone else in the plane running up and down the rows, screaming, crying and being a pain to other passengers, but NOT ME!!! HA! Little creep!
OK so I ended up watching two movies, Red Riding Hood and Gnomeo & Juliet. Yeah I know, but they were both pretty good. The reason why I watched two was because Kelly kept elbowing me in the ribs! Never fly with her, she is as bad as that little friggin kid! (I can't wait for tomorrow for her reaction about that). :)
Seriously though, I was about to drift off and she jabbed me in the ribs and said
Her: hey where is that pen?
Me: It's in with the luggage.
Her: YOU JERK!
Me: What?!
Her: How could you be such an idiot!
Me: You're kidding right?
Her: Blah blah something about me having the pen all week, but now it is with the luggage.
Me: I was almost asleep eh? *Leaning back into my sleep lean
Her: *Another Jab!
Me: What frig!
Her: I need a PEN!
Me: What AM I supposed to do about that!
Her: FIND ONE!
Me: You're kidding right?
Her: NO!
Me: Oh my gosh, you're a freak! What do you want me to do ask the pilot to pull over at the next corner store? We're in a friggin plane! Leave me alone! *try to lean in again, and get another jab!
Me: What FRIG!
Her: YOU NEED TO FIND ME A PEN!
This continues on... but you get the idea.
Oh yeah, and by the way, that woman that fell yesterday? It was Kelly! She got mad at me for that too! I was like 10 whole steps ahead of her! She called me a jerk!
Someone please understand when I say HELP ME!
With the exception of issues like these, I had a lot of fun on this trip. I'm physically exhausted, mentally stressed, more educated and experienced. It might take me about 2 weeks before I can relax from being on vacation, but it was worth all the achy muscles to be able to experience Europe.
I want to again thank Kelly and the entire Coates family for allowing me the opportunity to have these experiences and for being such amazing people. Experiences like these help me to appreciate my Country so much more. We live in a blessed land.
*Hugs.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Day 16
It would appear that this would be my last night in London. London has been very interesting. I have seen many things that finally make some sense to me. When I was growing up, I never understood why the queen was on our money. I never knew what the UK meant. I didn't get anything about the wars, the monarchy, government, who was important and why... basically nothing! I didn't read a lot as a child and most of my experience came from cartoons. It wasn't until I joined the Picton Legion Pipes & Drums about 8 years ago that I even started learning any of this stuff (mostly thanks to Doug Craft for talking about wars and military while he taught me how to bang on my drum). Most of my further information has come from being a part of the pipe band and attending all the ceremonies that I play at.
I took a couple bus transfers to Notting Hill, apparently where they filmed the movie with the same name. I had lunch in a cute little pub surrounded in plants. Not a lot happened today that really stood out except for all the people. It seems like London is visited by millions of people every day. I kept asking for directions, but no one was even from London! HORDES of people and none from here! I saw some crowds around breakdancers and various other entertainers (probably not from here either). Jerks!
I guess the reason why there isn't a lot that stands out is because London is very much like Canada in a lot of different ways. Some things stand out, like the cars driving on the wrong side of the road, the different words people use to describe something. Rashers instead of Slices of Bacon, Lift instead of Elevator, 2 pound 80... for currency, there are a bunch more, but you get the idea.
I guess I just thought that it would be like it is in the movies. Dead dry humour, cops with those bowler helmets and checkered pattern, those red phone booths, the bullet looking red mailboxes and double-decker buses all over the place. Wait... that actually was true! I guess it just seems different in movies though.
OH! Guess what!? You'll never believe this! I saw another woman fall today! Well I didn't actually see her fall, but I heard it. I was looking right at her, then I turned to look as I stepped off the curb then I heard a thud and gasp from someone behind me and a bag of leftover-takeout hit the ground. I turned around to see what had happened and she was laying there flat on her back! Some woman was already bending down to help her up, so out of a nervous/comedic reaction was to ask her "What are you doing on the ground?" I wanted to be helpful so I grabbed her bag for her. That makes three different falls in that same location! Seriously weird! What's worse is, it was raining, so she got soaked. I felt kind of bad for her.
I spent a lot of time emailing people about an event that I would have been doing if I wasn't on this trip. Sasha was there in my place and from what I have heard, she did an amazing job! Thank-you soooo much for helping with this Sasha, you aren't just a pretty face. :)
I will be making the trip back to Canada tomorrow. I seriously miss my bed. But for tonight it will be a hotel bed and then an eight hour airplane seat to get through first.
I will post one more blog after this, and that will end my European Vacation.
Goodnight all, sleep well. :)
I took a couple bus transfers to Notting Hill, apparently where they filmed the movie with the same name. I had lunch in a cute little pub surrounded in plants. Not a lot happened today that really stood out except for all the people. It seems like London is visited by millions of people every day. I kept asking for directions, but no one was even from London! HORDES of people and none from here! I saw some crowds around breakdancers and various other entertainers (probably not from here either). Jerks!
I guess the reason why there isn't a lot that stands out is because London is very much like Canada in a lot of different ways. Some things stand out, like the cars driving on the wrong side of the road, the different words people use to describe something. Rashers instead of Slices of Bacon, Lift instead of Elevator, 2 pound 80... for currency, there are a bunch more, but you get the idea.
I guess I just thought that it would be like it is in the movies. Dead dry humour, cops with those bowler helmets and checkered pattern, those red phone booths, the bullet looking red mailboxes and double-decker buses all over the place. Wait... that actually was true! I guess it just seems different in movies though.
OH! Guess what!? You'll never believe this! I saw another woman fall today! Well I didn't actually see her fall, but I heard it. I was looking right at her, then I turned to look as I stepped off the curb then I heard a thud and gasp from someone behind me and a bag of leftover-takeout hit the ground. I turned around to see what had happened and she was laying there flat on her back! Some woman was already bending down to help her up, so out of a nervous/comedic reaction was to ask her "What are you doing on the ground?" I wanted to be helpful so I grabbed her bag for her. That makes three different falls in that same location! Seriously weird! What's worse is, it was raining, so she got soaked. I felt kind of bad for her.
I spent a lot of time emailing people about an event that I would have been doing if I wasn't on this trip. Sasha was there in my place and from what I have heard, she did an amazing job! Thank-you soooo much for helping with this Sasha, you aren't just a pretty face. :)
I will be making the trip back to Canada tomorrow. I seriously miss my bed. But for tonight it will be a hotel bed and then an eight hour airplane seat to get through first.
I will post one more blog after this, and that will end my European Vacation.
Goodnight all, sleep well. :)
Friday, August 19, 2011
Day 15
OK so I'm well rested, ready to take on London!
Had another WONDERFUL hotel shower. Nice and hot and full. Trimmed my beard and shaved my head. I feel so clean when I do all that in a hotel shower.
After the shower I did a bit more work then hopped on a tour bus. It was a hop on hop off type, so they drive by monuments and buildings explaining how cool they are and why they exist and you can choose where to get off and on again. I went to a few cool places. I saw Hyde Park, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, saw where royal wedding took place, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and most cool of all... where Laurel and Hardy bought their bowler hats! Yes, I have priorities.
For lunch I had a some amazing London cuisine, a Whopper from Burger King. It had a little bit of a different flavour, but was basically a Whopper. I saw some pretty cool art and two people fall down. I'm guessing London has one of those weird centre of balance things going on. Like these people wiped right out! The woman slid very ungracefully and landed on her bottom, the guy landed really hard folded in half against a wall and his bottom. If I was to grade the falls, the woman would have gotten a 6, the guy a 8.5. If he had landed on his head or did a black flip too, he would have gotten a 10.
OK so here is something that has been bothering me since I started this whole trip. What's up with all the smoking!? Germany was pretty bad. It seemed like there were a lot of smokers there. Then I went to Scotland and it seemed like there were twice as many people smoking! London, I swear they're all chain-smokers! EVERYONE! It is like they don't listen to the cancer warnings or DARE cancer to strike them! I'm serious! It is way out of control! Kids, adults, babies in strollers! EVERYONE! At one point on my walk I actually had to walk on the street just so I could breathe again! (I hold my breath when I pass smokers, then when I pass them I breathe out of my nostrils before I inhale again, just in case there is any smoke that entered my nose... yeah I know, but I hate smoke that much!)
Another thing I've noticed is Europeans love cheese and tomato sandwiches both with or without some sort of meat. They always look amazing, but I can't eat sandwiches that aren't fresh. I have this gag reflex thing with soggy bread. I honestly can eat almost anything, but soggy bread is not one of them. If I saw the guy make the sandwich right in front of me, I would probably get one, but these things are prepared hours ago and bread can't stand up to wet ingredients for that long without being affected. Therefore, I would also be affected if I took a bite out of one. EUuWaH-Ahh! Gross!
OH! It didn't RAIN! OH MY GOSH! One whole day without rain! Seriously, I can't believe it. So I threw a glass of water on myself to remind me that I'm in Europe. HA, just joking, I would be kind of ticked off if I did that to myself. Yes, I'm a freak.
So what else went on today? Hmmm... OH, I remember something! I seriously saw about 15 teenage boys dressed like Duran Duran did in 1983! Complete with haircuts and the sleeves of their leather zipper jackets rolled up! I saw 5 women with 80's Pat Benatar haircuts and one guy that looked like both Duran Duran and Pat Benatar. He was scary!
One more thing. (This is for my friend Billy). William, remember what I said about the hot chicks in Germany? Well NOTHING compares to the hotties in London! Oh my cow! There are so many Kate Beckinsale grade hotties here. So if you want to have a location to aim for, then here is were you want to be! I'm not kidding!
Well my darlings, that's about it for today. I'm still exhausted so I'm heading off to bed. I will have more adventures to blog about tomorrow.
Nighty!
:)
Had another WONDERFUL hotel shower. Nice and hot and full. Trimmed my beard and shaved my head. I feel so clean when I do all that in a hotel shower.
After the shower I did a bit more work then hopped on a tour bus. It was a hop on hop off type, so they drive by monuments and buildings explaining how cool they are and why they exist and you can choose where to get off and on again. I went to a few cool places. I saw Hyde Park, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, saw where royal wedding took place, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and most cool of all... where Laurel and Hardy bought their bowler hats! Yes, I have priorities.
For lunch I had a some amazing London cuisine, a Whopper from Burger King. It had a little bit of a different flavour, but was basically a Whopper. I saw some pretty cool art and two people fall down. I'm guessing London has one of those weird centre of balance things going on. Like these people wiped right out! The woman slid very ungracefully and landed on her bottom, the guy landed really hard folded in half against a wall and his bottom. If I was to grade the falls, the woman would have gotten a 6, the guy a 8.5. If he had landed on his head or did a black flip too, he would have gotten a 10.
OK so here is something that has been bothering me since I started this whole trip. What's up with all the smoking!? Germany was pretty bad. It seemed like there were a lot of smokers there. Then I went to Scotland and it seemed like there were twice as many people smoking! London, I swear they're all chain-smokers! EVERYONE! It is like they don't listen to the cancer warnings or DARE cancer to strike them! I'm serious! It is way out of control! Kids, adults, babies in strollers! EVERYONE! At one point on my walk I actually had to walk on the street just so I could breathe again! (I hold my breath when I pass smokers, then when I pass them I breathe out of my nostrils before I inhale again, just in case there is any smoke that entered my nose... yeah I know, but I hate smoke that much!)
Another thing I've noticed is Europeans love cheese and tomato sandwiches both with or without some sort of meat. They always look amazing, but I can't eat sandwiches that aren't fresh. I have this gag reflex thing with soggy bread. I honestly can eat almost anything, but soggy bread is not one of them. If I saw the guy make the sandwich right in front of me, I would probably get one, but these things are prepared hours ago and bread can't stand up to wet ingredients for that long without being affected. Therefore, I would also be affected if I took a bite out of one. EUuWaH-Ahh! Gross!
OH! It didn't RAIN! OH MY GOSH! One whole day without rain! Seriously, I can't believe it. So I threw a glass of water on myself to remind me that I'm in Europe. HA, just joking, I would be kind of ticked off if I did that to myself. Yes, I'm a freak.
So what else went on today? Hmmm... OH, I remember something! I seriously saw about 15 teenage boys dressed like Duran Duran did in 1983! Complete with haircuts and the sleeves of their leather zipper jackets rolled up! I saw 5 women with 80's Pat Benatar haircuts and one guy that looked like both Duran Duran and Pat Benatar. He was scary!
One more thing. (This is for my friend Billy). William, remember what I said about the hot chicks in Germany? Well NOTHING compares to the hotties in London! Oh my cow! There are so many Kate Beckinsale grade hotties here. So if you want to have a location to aim for, then here is were you want to be! I'm not kidding!
Well my darlings, that's about it for today. I'm still exhausted so I'm heading off to bed. I will have more adventures to blog about tomorrow.
Nighty!
:)
Day 14
Today is Thursday.
Today is mostly a post about travel and sleeping. I barely slept in the night because I was working on stuff that needed to get done including packing and whatever. So 6AM came really early. (Yeah I know it comes exactly at 6AM every day, but you know what I mean!)
After saying goodbye to my friend Michelle (she left for Ireland for a year to go to school) I went and had a 30 minute nap.
So we got a cab to the airport, got on the plane with no difficulty. After take off, I choked down the awful plane breakfast and I slept for the hour plane ride to London. Then in London, they have this HUGE long walk through a bendy tunnel. It felt like at least 20 minutes to get to the luggage spity-out thing. Then they shuttle-train you to another location to get to the exit so you can then walk another 600 years to the hotel! Ugh, why does everything always involve so much walking!
One cool thing was a Londoner stopped and saw us being strangled by the map in the street and offered some help. Kelly said he was sexy, but I only used him for his knowledge of London, I wasn't really interested in a date just then.
Tired, grumpy and physically exhausted of course the Concierge screwed up the room number so it took another 20 minutes of walking around the hallways that went into a series of circles, looking for room 369 when the rooms only went to 350!
I had a shower and a nap, then worked on my laptop for a bit. By 6PM it was pouring rain harder than it had ever done in Scotland. This was a bit much to take. The whole 10 days in Scotland it rained about 9 & 1/2 days! There were two sunny days, but it had rained on those days also. I was completely soaked on a few of them and have about had my fill of rain. So instead of going out to see London, I was quite content on being in a dry hotel room doing absolutely nothing.
I got some extra sleep though, so that's a bonus!
Yay SLEEP!!!
So that about sums up my boring but DRY first day. Trust me though, dry is very welcome.
I will be doing more tomorrow.
Night my cuties. :)
Today is mostly a post about travel and sleeping. I barely slept in the night because I was working on stuff that needed to get done including packing and whatever. So 6AM came really early. (Yeah I know it comes exactly at 6AM every day, but you know what I mean!)
After saying goodbye to my friend Michelle (she left for Ireland for a year to go to school) I went and had a 30 minute nap.
So we got a cab to the airport, got on the plane with no difficulty. After take off, I choked down the awful plane breakfast and I slept for the hour plane ride to London. Then in London, they have this HUGE long walk through a bendy tunnel. It felt like at least 20 minutes to get to the luggage spity-out thing. Then they shuttle-train you to another location to get to the exit so you can then walk another 600 years to the hotel! Ugh, why does everything always involve so much walking!
One cool thing was a Londoner stopped and saw us being strangled by the map in the street and offered some help. Kelly said he was sexy, but I only used him for his knowledge of London, I wasn't really interested in a date just then.
Tired, grumpy and physically exhausted of course the Concierge screwed up the room number so it took another 20 minutes of walking around the hallways that went into a series of circles, looking for room 369 when the rooms only went to 350!
I had a shower and a nap, then worked on my laptop for a bit. By 6PM it was pouring rain harder than it had ever done in Scotland. This was a bit much to take. The whole 10 days in Scotland it rained about 9 & 1/2 days! There were two sunny days, but it had rained on those days also. I was completely soaked on a few of them and have about had my fill of rain. So instead of going out to see London, I was quite content on being in a dry hotel room doing absolutely nothing.
I got some extra sleep though, so that's a bonus!
Yay SLEEP!!!
So that about sums up my boring but DRY first day. Trust me though, dry is very welcome.
I will be doing more tomorrow.
Night my cuties. :)
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Day 13
Woah! Last full day in Scotland then I'm aff tae London. I've used about 5 full words today in a Scottish accent without even meaning to. I can't believe how easy it is to slip into another Country's accent! (Which is why I'm glad we will only be in London for only 3 days! I mean who wants to sound like THAT!)
So today again was a rough wake up. Each day seems to get harder and harder to get out of bed. I'm not sure if it is from all the walking or what, but my body is feeling it now. I have a huge deep blister growing on the inside of my right foot.
Anyway blah blah, I'm sure you don't care about my stupid blister.
We went to Holyrood (spelled it wrong yesterday) which I called a castle, but was corrected. It apparently isn't a castle, but I mean what makes it not a castle is beyond me! It looks like a castle, feels like a castle, smells like a castle and I'm sure tastes like a castle. Stupid not a castle!
The show went really well, people seem to love us a lot. We get pictures taken of us a lot too. I don't know why but people seem to pick me for pictures more than everyone else in the band or at least that's what it feels like. I keep forgetting too that other cultures have issues with touching or PDA and I keep grabbing them and throwing me arms around them and pulling them in right next to me. One that shocked me was one woman from Asia put her hand right on me butt! I don't know if she was just nervous, but HEY! Another observation was Russians seem to be soooo extra polite! Their thank-yous seem really sincere.
Once we finished we headed to Edinburgh Castle (Yes, castle this time). We had a few hours before the show so the band had some lunch and took a tour of the castle. It was magnificent on the outside, but this time the inside wasn't as nice as some of the others. It had a lot of history and stories, but it seems a little less impressive than some of the others I've seen in the last week or so.
The show here was a lot better than all the others. I'm not sure if that was because it was the last show or if it was because we had already done a warm up show only a few hours earlier or the acoustics were better here, but we sounded awesome! We looked pretty sexy too! :)
Once the show was over we all grabbed our stuff to go. I heard Kelly say to Bill that she would be in some of the shops for a bit. So I went to look for her. She wasn't anywhere to be found. Yesterday I thought she went home (being two blocks away from the flat) but misheard what she said. Then she got ticked off that I just left her. So today I made sure I didn't leave, especially now that it was a fair distance away. The whole band waited for about an hour while I searched the entire castle! We couldn't find Alison or Kelly, so we figured they were together. Finally the band left and Beth and I stayed looking for them. Lochie eventually sent Beth a text saying they were at home. So here's how this went down, I got to the flat after about 2 hours of wasted time looking for her and I'm told "You know I can find my way home on my own eh?" Grrrr! How can I ever know what to do!? I mean just yesterday I'm the biggest jerk in the world for figuring out that she knows how to get to the flat on her own two blocks away, today I'm a jerk for waiting for her.
Anyway, we all started packing and then went to Shakespeares for dinner. They have some amazing deals here for food. 5 pounds for a 12oz hamburger with fries and an egg on it. I split it with someone and we were both stuffed! I figured out why Scotland isn't an overweight land, it is because of all the hills they have to climb! Every road is a hill!
So that's about it for Scotland. I'm now mostly packed. I am some sleep and a shower away from getting on a plane for London. I don't know what to expect, but judging what I know of Germany and Scotland I'm sure they will have toilet issues and the buildings will be old and have some exciting history.
Until we meet again, I'm going tae bed now. Goodnight my beauties.
:)
So today again was a rough wake up. Each day seems to get harder and harder to get out of bed. I'm not sure if it is from all the walking or what, but my body is feeling it now. I have a huge deep blister growing on the inside of my right foot.
Anyway blah blah, I'm sure you don't care about my stupid blister.
We went to Holyrood (spelled it wrong yesterday) which I called a castle, but was corrected. It apparently isn't a castle, but I mean what makes it not a castle is beyond me! It looks like a castle, feels like a castle, smells like a castle and I'm sure tastes like a castle. Stupid not a castle!
The show went really well, people seem to love us a lot. We get pictures taken of us a lot too. I don't know why but people seem to pick me for pictures more than everyone else in the band or at least that's what it feels like. I keep forgetting too that other cultures have issues with touching or PDA and I keep grabbing them and throwing me arms around them and pulling them in right next to me. One that shocked me was one woman from Asia put her hand right on me butt! I don't know if she was just nervous, but HEY! Another observation was Russians seem to be soooo extra polite! Their thank-yous seem really sincere.
Once we finished we headed to Edinburgh Castle (Yes, castle this time). We had a few hours before the show so the band had some lunch and took a tour of the castle. It was magnificent on the outside, but this time the inside wasn't as nice as some of the others. It had a lot of history and stories, but it seems a little less impressive than some of the others I've seen in the last week or so.
The show here was a lot better than all the others. I'm not sure if that was because it was the last show or if it was because we had already done a warm up show only a few hours earlier or the acoustics were better here, but we sounded awesome! We looked pretty sexy too! :)
Once the show was over we all grabbed our stuff to go. I heard Kelly say to Bill that she would be in some of the shops for a bit. So I went to look for her. She wasn't anywhere to be found. Yesterday I thought she went home (being two blocks away from the flat) but misheard what she said. Then she got ticked off that I just left her. So today I made sure I didn't leave, especially now that it was a fair distance away. The whole band waited for about an hour while I searched the entire castle! We couldn't find Alison or Kelly, so we figured they were together. Finally the band left and Beth and I stayed looking for them. Lochie eventually sent Beth a text saying they were at home. So here's how this went down, I got to the flat after about 2 hours of wasted time looking for her and I'm told "You know I can find my way home on my own eh?" Grrrr! How can I ever know what to do!? I mean just yesterday I'm the biggest jerk in the world for figuring out that she knows how to get to the flat on her own two blocks away, today I'm a jerk for waiting for her.
Anyway, we all started packing and then went to Shakespeares for dinner. They have some amazing deals here for food. 5 pounds for a 12oz hamburger with fries and an egg on it. I split it with someone and we were both stuffed! I figured out why Scotland isn't an overweight land, it is because of all the hills they have to climb! Every road is a hill!
So that's about it for Scotland. I'm now mostly packed. I am some sleep and a shower away from getting on a plane for London. I don't know what to expect, but judging what I know of Germany and Scotland I'm sure they will have toilet issues and the buildings will be old and have some exciting history.
Until we meet again, I'm going tae bed now. Goodnight my beauties.
:)
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Day 12
OK today I felt it. I just wanted to stay in bed. I'm tired. Leave me alone! I don't want to go see some castle, or some old building with mould on it, I just want to sleep in my own bed. Tell the killer seagulls to scram, don't knock on my door, just go away and let me soak up my bedsheets and pillows.
Fine, I'll get up! Kelly booked a whiskey tour, so I had to go. It was really airly, (early with a Scottish accent). It's funny, I've been saying words like Scottish people all day totally involuntarily. So once we got our teek-ets, (tickets). We met Dave our tour guide. He seems a bit too awake at the early hour of 9am, but whatever. We were on our way! OK, so I've only been on a few tours in my life, but let me just say... He was awesome! He started the whole tour by introducing himself and going over the safety rules. He made fun of everyone and called us sort of stupid if we didn't know how to be safe, then he pointed around the bus and had no idea where the emergency doors were, but "he knew they were in there somewhere". Then he drove 3 blocks out of the way to show us his home and his daughter, but we only got to see his mother-in-law because his daughter was sleeping. Then he started the real tour. Only he kept talking about his brothers, his parents, his dog, his hang-outs, honestly it was a riot! He was hilarious too! He would say something about the sites we were seeing on the tour, then he would make fun of it under his breath but totally into the mic so we could hear it. Then on top of all that, he would talk to the traffic as he drove making it seem even more funny! Like seriously, the tour was so much fun and totally because of him!
He kept doing things too along the way that were not part of the trip. He would pull over the bus, and tell us to get out and walk 4 blocks because he liked the little town and he would pick us up at the end of the 4 blocks after we found whatever it was he told us to check out. Or he would talk about the "pisser" that we needed to pay 30 pence for to get to see how "brilliant" it was. "Ah, s'totally worth the 30 pence to take a piss in style" he said before shoving us out the door!
The distillery was amazing. To see the process and how many details goes into every bottle is an eye opener.
The best part of the whole trip though was going to the waterfalls. He made us take a half-hour walk into the woods just to see this amazing site. It was probably my favourite place in all of Scotland. Funny though, it reminded me so much of Canada. The only thing Canada lacks is the old ruins and the amazing moss that grows here. It makes everything so fantasy-movie-like. The sounds, smells and colours was totally Canada though. We live in a beautiful Country my friends.
When the tour was over (which was 9 hours that felt like 4) we all said goodbye. I really liked him a lot. He made everything so much fun.
Then it was raining again! Hard. I got soaked coming back to the flats. I got changed and it was time to go out again. UGH! I got soaked again before we even got anywhere. The restaurant we went to only served food upstairs and wouldn't bring us any to our tables. So I left with Kelly and Shauna because they didn't want to eat upstairs either. We went to another restaurant, but that too wasn't good enough, so I told them I just wanted to grab a sub and get home. By the time I got home I was chilled, cold, wet and homesick. I don't want to get wet anymore. I'm tired.
Speaking of tired, I'm going to get to bed now. I will be performing with the band tomorrow in hollyrude and the Edinburgh Castle. Our final performances before we leave in a couple days. I'm not sure if I can walk anymore, so I'm glad we're getting close to being done.
I'm done.
Good night my lovelies.
:)
Fine, I'll get up! Kelly booked a whiskey tour, so I had to go. It was really airly, (early with a Scottish accent). It's funny, I've been saying words like Scottish people all day totally involuntarily. So once we got our teek-ets, (tickets). We met Dave our tour guide. He seems a bit too awake at the early hour of 9am, but whatever. We were on our way! OK, so I've only been on a few tours in my life, but let me just say... He was awesome! He started the whole tour by introducing himself and going over the safety rules. He made fun of everyone and called us sort of stupid if we didn't know how to be safe, then he pointed around the bus and had no idea where the emergency doors were, but "he knew they were in there somewhere". Then he drove 3 blocks out of the way to show us his home and his daughter, but we only got to see his mother-in-law because his daughter was sleeping. Then he started the real tour. Only he kept talking about his brothers, his parents, his dog, his hang-outs, honestly it was a riot! He was hilarious too! He would say something about the sites we were seeing on the tour, then he would make fun of it under his breath but totally into the mic so we could hear it. Then on top of all that, he would talk to the traffic as he drove making it seem even more funny! Like seriously, the tour was so much fun and totally because of him!
He kept doing things too along the way that were not part of the trip. He would pull over the bus, and tell us to get out and walk 4 blocks because he liked the little town and he would pick us up at the end of the 4 blocks after we found whatever it was he told us to check out. Or he would talk about the "pisser" that we needed to pay 30 pence for to get to see how "brilliant" it was. "Ah, s'totally worth the 30 pence to take a piss in style" he said before shoving us out the door!
The distillery was amazing. To see the process and how many details goes into every bottle is an eye opener.
The best part of the whole trip though was going to the waterfalls. He made us take a half-hour walk into the woods just to see this amazing site. It was probably my favourite place in all of Scotland. Funny though, it reminded me so much of Canada. The only thing Canada lacks is the old ruins and the amazing moss that grows here. It makes everything so fantasy-movie-like. The sounds, smells and colours was totally Canada though. We live in a beautiful Country my friends.
When the tour was over (which was 9 hours that felt like 4) we all said goodbye. I really liked him a lot. He made everything so much fun.
Then it was raining again! Hard. I got soaked coming back to the flats. I got changed and it was time to go out again. UGH! I got soaked again before we even got anywhere. The restaurant we went to only served food upstairs and wouldn't bring us any to our tables. So I left with Kelly and Shauna because they didn't want to eat upstairs either. We went to another restaurant, but that too wasn't good enough, so I told them I just wanted to grab a sub and get home. By the time I got home I was chilled, cold, wet and homesick. I don't want to get wet anymore. I'm tired.
Speaking of tired, I'm going to get to bed now. I will be performing with the band tomorrow in hollyrude and the Edinburgh Castle. Our final performances before we leave in a couple days. I'm not sure if I can walk anymore, so I'm glad we're getting close to being done.
I'm done.
Good night my lovelies.
:)
Day 11
Oooops, sorry about that! I'm a day behind now. I was so beat last night, I ended up crashing into my bed and that was it!
OK so yesterday (Day 11) I woke up kinda late. It seems as though all this stuff is catching up with me. I'm tired. Not just from all the walking walking walking walking EVERYWHERE... but because of the weird food, weird hours, doing something all the time, it eventually wears you out!
So I got up and Lochie wanted to go visit the Rosslyn Chapel. So Michelle and I saddled up our walking shoes and headed off with him. I almost died 5 times because I can't keep the direction of the traffic straight in my head. I look the "wrong" way because I know that it is the right way, then when I get half way across, I forget to look the other "wrong" way again, only this time it really is the wrong way!!! I see nothing coming and then after taking a few steps realize I'm looking the wrong way and almost get killed!
Anyway, I'm pretty quick, so I'm still OK.
So about this chapel, apparently it is pretty famous and was in that movie "Da Vinci Code". I've never seen the movie myself, but the Chapel is pretty amazing. Different then the one in Germany, but just as cool for different reasons. There is a neat/weird story about a pillar maker and his apprentice, I won't give it away, but you can either look it up or come visit Scotland.
It was my first experience with Scotland's Countryside. I find Scotland to be very much like Canada only with older houses and poorly kept streets. We went to a little pub while we were there and Robbie Burns seems to be present in every little pub in all of Scotland. Posters, pictures, quotes, tunes... they LOVE him!
It rained for a bit in the last half of the day, but the morning was pretty nice. I'm glad, because walking around in that chapel soaking wet would have sucked.
After we got back, we went for a walk to visit some more shops and stuff. Michelle and I continued on while Lochie went back to the flats. Michelle then dragged me into every bizarre and freaky store available in Edinburgh. There must be 600,000 used clothing stores here! We finally got to the pub everyone was supposed to be meeting at, but no one was there, so we headed back to the flats. No one apparently was making a move for supper so Michelle suggested a little pub/restaurant we saw in our travels. I ordered some fish and chips that I had been craving all day. It was very well done. One thing that bothers me though about Scotland is they don't offer regular vinegar. Every time I ask for vinegar they say it is in the little dish. Well the only vinegar in the dish is malt vinegar! THANKS!!! Jerks.
I'm actually getting homesick for food. I miss cooking. I also miss my favourite brand-names. I miss clean dishes. You can't clean anything with the dish washing liquid they have here and the laundry soap will give you a headache from the smell of it. I also miss just being home. I miss my routines and I miss my bed. Oh how I love that bed of mine.
By the time we all got home I was already in that walking coma sleep thing. I can barely remember how I even got home. I think I fell asleep in the restaurant and someone carried me home. Really, I am getting worse as time goes on.
OK my dear friends, I am going to write another one of these about my adventures today. So I will see you soonish.
Mmmmmwah!
OK so yesterday (Day 11) I woke up kinda late. It seems as though all this stuff is catching up with me. I'm tired. Not just from all the walking walking walking walking EVERYWHERE... but because of the weird food, weird hours, doing something all the time, it eventually wears you out!
So I got up and Lochie wanted to go visit the Rosslyn Chapel. So Michelle and I saddled up our walking shoes and headed off with him. I almost died 5 times because I can't keep the direction of the traffic straight in my head. I look the "wrong" way because I know that it is the right way, then when I get half way across, I forget to look the other "wrong" way again, only this time it really is the wrong way!!! I see nothing coming and then after taking a few steps realize I'm looking the wrong way and almost get killed!
Anyway, I'm pretty quick, so I'm still OK.
So about this chapel, apparently it is pretty famous and was in that movie "Da Vinci Code". I've never seen the movie myself, but the Chapel is pretty amazing. Different then the one in Germany, but just as cool for different reasons. There is a neat/weird story about a pillar maker and his apprentice, I won't give it away, but you can either look it up or come visit Scotland.
It was my first experience with Scotland's Countryside. I find Scotland to be very much like Canada only with older houses and poorly kept streets. We went to a little pub while we were there and Robbie Burns seems to be present in every little pub in all of Scotland. Posters, pictures, quotes, tunes... they LOVE him!
It rained for a bit in the last half of the day, but the morning was pretty nice. I'm glad, because walking around in that chapel soaking wet would have sucked.
After we got back, we went for a walk to visit some more shops and stuff. Michelle and I continued on while Lochie went back to the flats. Michelle then dragged me into every bizarre and freaky store available in Edinburgh. There must be 600,000 used clothing stores here! We finally got to the pub everyone was supposed to be meeting at, but no one was there, so we headed back to the flats. No one apparently was making a move for supper so Michelle suggested a little pub/restaurant we saw in our travels. I ordered some fish and chips that I had been craving all day. It was very well done. One thing that bothers me though about Scotland is they don't offer regular vinegar. Every time I ask for vinegar they say it is in the little dish. Well the only vinegar in the dish is malt vinegar! THANKS!!! Jerks.
I'm actually getting homesick for food. I miss cooking. I also miss my favourite brand-names. I miss clean dishes. You can't clean anything with the dish washing liquid they have here and the laundry soap will give you a headache from the smell of it. I also miss just being home. I miss my routines and I miss my bed. Oh how I love that bed of mine.
By the time we all got home I was already in that walking coma sleep thing. I can barely remember how I even got home. I think I fell asleep in the restaurant and someone carried me home. Really, I am getting worse as time goes on.
OK my dear friends, I am going to write another one of these about my adventures today. So I will see you soonish.
Mmmmmwah!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Day 10
Scotland Weather: Rai.... wait... Sun? IS THAT THE SUN!? It was actually sunny for some of today!
Well today was like a day off. No agenda, no plans, no playing. So I slept in until 9AM, the killer seagulls of Scotland must have slept in too. :)
I got up lazily and went and sat in the living room/kitchen area that comes as part of the flat. I didn't really do anything until everyone was awake. We all sort of half-planned going out for breakfast.
After breakfast half of us went for a walk on the town. We visited some old shops and looked at the old buildings and such. One thing I've noticed about Scotland is even though it is very old and beautiful, it is a pigsty! There is always garbage and junk on all the streets! Not that every City is spotless, but this is a bit much. I've been picking up garbage and throwing it out as I walk along the streets. I hope it catches on.
OH! Guess what I found here!? Cherry Coke! Yes cherry coke! I haven't had a cherry coke since Back to the Future was available on VHS! I got a can of it and it is chilling in the fridge for later. I can't wait to try it again. :) Totally cool!
So here's something you may find funny...
We decided to visit a mall that was really close to the "Scotland Ocean". As we were walking through the mall, Beth pointed out a music band poster to me and said she REALLY needed to go in there. I said OK cool. I went in a few seconds later and walked up to the woman sitting at the cash and pointed to the poster Here is how it went:
Me: Excuse me? Could you tell me who that band is right there?
Her: Who?
Me: That band right there.
Her: (Pointing to it) That band?
Me: Yes who is that?
Her: That's The Who.
Me: Yes, who is that band?
Her: The Who.
Me: Yes, could you please tell me who that is?
Her: That's The Who.
Me: Yes, I would like to know who that is?
Her: That band is The Who.
Me: That's what I'm asking... Who is that band?
Her: (Now getting frustrated at not knowing how to answer, said...) Ummm That band's name IS The WHO!
Me: Smiling, (touching her shoulder) I know, I was just teasing you.
Her: (Swearing under her breath in some ancient Scottish dialect). Yer a right.... something something bugger aren't ye?
I laughed and so did she. That was probably the best part of my whole day, I planned that out and it executed perfectly! I couldn't believe it even worked!
After we walked to the bottom of Scotland we took a cab back to the flat, got some food and had a hang out and talked. It was a pretty cool day. Most of today was just about being lazy. Tomorrow I'm thinking about going to the "Golden Mile" to check out some of the buskers and see some of the old shops. Most were closed today and there are some really fun looking stores around.
By the way, the weather today was beautiful. It was about 15c, overcast for most of it and always a nice cool breeze. I'm seriously loving this weather!
That's all for today, not really much to report. Tomorrow should be a bit more active. I hope you are all doing well.
Night my little pumpkins. :)
Well today was like a day off. No agenda, no plans, no playing. So I slept in until 9AM, the killer seagulls of Scotland must have slept in too. :)
I got up lazily and went and sat in the living room/kitchen area that comes as part of the flat. I didn't really do anything until everyone was awake. We all sort of half-planned going out for breakfast.
After breakfast half of us went for a walk on the town. We visited some old shops and looked at the old buildings and such. One thing I've noticed about Scotland is even though it is very old and beautiful, it is a pigsty! There is always garbage and junk on all the streets! Not that every City is spotless, but this is a bit much. I've been picking up garbage and throwing it out as I walk along the streets. I hope it catches on.
OH! Guess what I found here!? Cherry Coke! Yes cherry coke! I haven't had a cherry coke since Back to the Future was available on VHS! I got a can of it and it is chilling in the fridge for later. I can't wait to try it again. :) Totally cool!
So here's something you may find funny...
We decided to visit a mall that was really close to the "Scotland Ocean". As we were walking through the mall, Beth pointed out a music band poster to me and said she REALLY needed to go in there. I said OK cool. I went in a few seconds later and walked up to the woman sitting at the cash and pointed to the poster Here is how it went:
Me: Excuse me? Could you tell me who that band is right there?
Her: Who?
Me: That band right there.
Her: (Pointing to it) That band?
Me: Yes who is that?
Her: That's The Who.
Me: Yes, who is that band?
Her: The Who.
Me: Yes, could you please tell me who that is?
Her: That's The Who.
Me: Yes, I would like to know who that is?
Her: That band is The Who.
Me: That's what I'm asking... Who is that band?
Her: (Now getting frustrated at not knowing how to answer, said...) Ummm That band's name IS The WHO!
Me: Smiling, (touching her shoulder) I know, I was just teasing you.
Her: (Swearing under her breath in some ancient Scottish dialect). Yer a right.... something something bugger aren't ye?
I laughed and so did she. That was probably the best part of my whole day, I planned that out and it executed perfectly! I couldn't believe it even worked!
After we walked to the bottom of Scotland we took a cab back to the flat, got some food and had a hang out and talked. It was a pretty cool day. Most of today was just about being lazy. Tomorrow I'm thinking about going to the "Golden Mile" to check out some of the buskers and see some of the old shops. Most were closed today and there are some really fun looking stores around.
By the way, the weather today was beautiful. It was about 15c, overcast for most of it and always a nice cool breeze. I'm seriously loving this weather!
That's all for today, not really much to report. Tomorrow should be a bit more active. I hope you are all doing well.
Night my little pumpkins. :)
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Day 9
Scotland Weather... Raaaain! Who knew!?
Wow, another fun and eventful day! I got up at 4AM, not because of the alarm, but because of the giant Neanderthalic seagulls they have here! Oh my gosh they are huge and mean looking! Oh! And they sound like that bear from "The Great Outdoors" starring John Candy. Just after he shoots that bear for the second time, you can hear the sound here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBJ-MpPBDug
Watch that, I'm serious that's about how they sound! Now imagine waking up to that at 4AM after only getting 4 hours sleep!!!
So I got in the shower, shaved my skull and ironed my shirt. After dressing and gathering my stuff I had about a half hour left to waste and practised some more. I was having some issues still, the 4 hours didn't help, so once 6:30am rolled around we all got on the bus and headed back to Glasgow. When we got there we were informed there would be about 200 bands in attendance today. That is about 4 times as many as were in Maxville! Many of them grade 1's and 2's. It wasn't long before we were up to the gate ready to compete. We marched on, and I almost blinked past the whole thing! It was like time sped up and it was over before we knew it! I wasn't too pleased with my performance, not just because I didn't have enough time to learn everything, but I made a stupid error on a 5 stroke single. I tell my students that initial rolls and 5 stroke singles stand out more than anything else when playing. If they aren't done right they sound like a huge audible flair to the judges. I hit one so badly it bothered me for the rest of the set. I messed up some of my marching by stopping too early, but overall the band did well and we placed 14th out of 52. That isn't too bad. 14th is better than sucks and worse than qualifying so there is a saying in the pipe band world "win or lose, hit the booze". Basically meaning who cares really, we do it for fun.
One thing I might add though, all the best pipe bands in the entire world were there. Bands that practise 8-10 hours a day as a full time job, all competing for the same prize. Even the North American champions didn't qualify today, so that shows you how much talent is present at the worlds.
During the competition it sort of stopped raining, until it stopped altogether about an hour later. Wow, I didn't think Scotland even had a sun behind all those clouds!
After the competition I checked out some of the grade 1 bands, had a foot-long hot dog that wasn't really made from Canadian hotdog kind of meat, it was like a fluffy knockwurst and there were no condiments! Seriously, Scottish people don't use normal mustard and don't ever have relish as a condiment! However, they LOVE this stuff called "brown sauce". I had a little girl about 8 almost knock me over trying to get to it! She actually shoved me out of the way! She ordered the same thing I did and poured brown sauce all over her food! I tried it and it is exactly like eating HP sauce, only it isn't as peppery and is much sweeter. They eat it on everything and it is served everywhere!
By the time I did all that my feet were killing me. I had purchased a slightly used pair of Ghillie's because they were 1/25th the price of a new pair, only I didn't buy matching insoles to make them tolerable. It was like walking on pavement in my bare feet all day. So after checking in with the band to see if we had qualified I was almost relieved to find out we didn't have to play again! Instead I we back to the bus to sit for about an hour.
Soon after I was joined by a few of my band-mates and they started singing some old Scottish folk songs. I almost wet my kilt I was laughing so hard! Then about an hour later the rest of the band joined us and we were off to Edinburgh again.
We made some plans to head to the golden mile but it started raining again and it was Saturday night drunkenfest in Scotland apparently, so we couldn't find a quiet place to eat. Everything was packed! We just ended up parting ways and I ended up going with a few of them for a burger.
I'm now completely exhausted full, sore, tired and relieved that I don't have to cram those drum scores into my skull anymore! I wish I could have been a lot better, because like I said, I play for my own perfection, not for some guy with a clipboard, and I was not pleased to present something I wasn't prepared to present.
Maybe next year, but I doubt it. It was a wonderful experience and have some great pictures.
So my darlings, I am going to head to bed now, I'm starting to shut down now. We'll meet again tomorrow at this same time.
*hugs
Wow, another fun and eventful day! I got up at 4AM, not because of the alarm, but because of the giant Neanderthalic seagulls they have here! Oh my gosh they are huge and mean looking! Oh! And they sound like that bear from "The Great Outdoors" starring John Candy. Just after he shoots that bear for the second time, you can hear the sound here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBJ-MpPBDug
Watch that, I'm serious that's about how they sound! Now imagine waking up to that at 4AM after only getting 4 hours sleep!!!
So I got in the shower, shaved my skull and ironed my shirt. After dressing and gathering my stuff I had about a half hour left to waste and practised some more. I was having some issues still, the 4 hours didn't help, so once 6:30am rolled around we all got on the bus and headed back to Glasgow. When we got there we were informed there would be about 200 bands in attendance today. That is about 4 times as many as were in Maxville! Many of them grade 1's and 2's. It wasn't long before we were up to the gate ready to compete. We marched on, and I almost blinked past the whole thing! It was like time sped up and it was over before we knew it! I wasn't too pleased with my performance, not just because I didn't have enough time to learn everything, but I made a stupid error on a 5 stroke single. I tell my students that initial rolls and 5 stroke singles stand out more than anything else when playing. If they aren't done right they sound like a huge audible flair to the judges. I hit one so badly it bothered me for the rest of the set. I messed up some of my marching by stopping too early, but overall the band did well and we placed 14th out of 52. That isn't too bad. 14th is better than sucks and worse than qualifying so there is a saying in the pipe band world "win or lose, hit the booze". Basically meaning who cares really, we do it for fun.
One thing I might add though, all the best pipe bands in the entire world were there. Bands that practise 8-10 hours a day as a full time job, all competing for the same prize. Even the North American champions didn't qualify today, so that shows you how much talent is present at the worlds.
During the competition it sort of stopped raining, until it stopped altogether about an hour later. Wow, I didn't think Scotland even had a sun behind all those clouds!
After the competition I checked out some of the grade 1 bands, had a foot-long hot dog that wasn't really made from Canadian hotdog kind of meat, it was like a fluffy knockwurst and there were no condiments! Seriously, Scottish people don't use normal mustard and don't ever have relish as a condiment! However, they LOVE this stuff called "brown sauce". I had a little girl about 8 almost knock me over trying to get to it! She actually shoved me out of the way! She ordered the same thing I did and poured brown sauce all over her food! I tried it and it is exactly like eating HP sauce, only it isn't as peppery and is much sweeter. They eat it on everything and it is served everywhere!
By the time I did all that my feet were killing me. I had purchased a slightly used pair of Ghillie's because they were 1/25th the price of a new pair, only I didn't buy matching insoles to make them tolerable. It was like walking on pavement in my bare feet all day. So after checking in with the band to see if we had qualified I was almost relieved to find out we didn't have to play again! Instead I we back to the bus to sit for about an hour.
Soon after I was joined by a few of my band-mates and they started singing some old Scottish folk songs. I almost wet my kilt I was laughing so hard! Then about an hour later the rest of the band joined us and we were off to Edinburgh again.
We made some plans to head to the golden mile but it started raining again and it was Saturday night drunkenfest in Scotland apparently, so we couldn't find a quiet place to eat. Everything was packed! We just ended up parting ways and I ended up going with a few of them for a burger.
I'm now completely exhausted full, sore, tired and relieved that I don't have to cram those drum scores into my skull anymore! I wish I could have been a lot better, because like I said, I play for my own perfection, not for some guy with a clipboard, and I was not pleased to present something I wasn't prepared to present.
Maybe next year, but I doubt it. It was a wonderful experience and have some great pictures.
So my darlings, I am going to head to bed now, I'm starting to shut down now. We'll meet again tomorrow at this same time.
*hugs
Friday, August 12, 2011
Day 8
Scotland Weather: Rain.
Yes I've been in Scotland for 3 days now and there has been 3 days of rain.
OK so today was pretty eventful, we all did the cab and train thing to Glasgow again to get to a massed parade and a short show for the Mayor of Glasgow. It was pretty cool and marching down the hill playing with a bunch of other bands in Scotland was really cool. The Drum Sargent threw his mace what looked to be about 30 feet in the air and as it spun down he nailed the catch. It was soooooo awesome to see! Normally we drummers are at the back and don't get to see much up front. This was a very steep hill so I could see every drummer and every piper as well as the Drum Sargent! (Which never happens). I even had goosebumps on my legs for that one!
Once we did the massed bands each band did a ten minute set for the Mayor and a bunch of spectators, our show was really unique because we got some kids to help us with tambourines and a COW BELL! Yes I know what you're thinking and yes we did have a lot of it. :) Beth was the mastermind behind adding the children and it went over so well! People LOVED it. (Good Job Beth).
Once the show was finished the Mayor invited us (complete with parchment invitation) to his elegant dinning room for lunch. It had marble everywhere and all steps and railings were made from it. I must say, it was pretty spectacular. My friend Michelle said "It was stupid beautiful". :)
We had some pretty fancy stuff all prepared and served by the mayor's chefs and servers. The smoked salmon was said to "melt in your mouth" and could be cut by gravity both said and demonstrated by Miss Madeleine.
So we didn't stick around much in Glasgow because we are competing tomorrow in the Worlds. We got home and spent about 2 hours practising as a band and then I cleaned up the entire flat. I needed a break from practising for a bit. Then I spent another hour or two with Shahna, Michelle and Tim.
I pretty much have it all now, I am having issues with about 3 parts and am hoping a good night sleep will help sink it all in. More practise tomorrow then we get to the guillotine. The plan tomorrow is wake up at 5:30AM, be ready by 6:30AM, get to Glasgow by about 7:30AM and practise until about 10AM when we compete. Afterwards we deflate and get packed away in a box until next year. (OK that made no sense, but I'm leaving it in because it makes for a nice visual).
I don't think our band will be televised because we aren't a grade 1 or 2 band, but if you get a chance to see the event on TV it will be pretty amazing. I saw some of it last year and it was really cool to see all the best bands in the world competing for top prize.
Anyway, it is now 11:30PM here and I need to get to bed so I will be fresh in the morning. I haven't had much in the way of nervousness or butterflies, but I just need to say this. I have never competed in my life and my first competition will be at the biggest event known to the pipe band world. Go big or go back to Germany I guess eh? HA.
I will let you know how everything goes tomorrow night.
Have a good day tomorrow, let me know if you catch any of the bands playing.
Be blessed my friends.
Yes I've been in Scotland for 3 days now and there has been 3 days of rain.
OK so today was pretty eventful, we all did the cab and train thing to Glasgow again to get to a massed parade and a short show for the Mayor of Glasgow. It was pretty cool and marching down the hill playing with a bunch of other bands in Scotland was really cool. The Drum Sargent threw his mace what looked to be about 30 feet in the air and as it spun down he nailed the catch. It was soooooo awesome to see! Normally we drummers are at the back and don't get to see much up front. This was a very steep hill so I could see every drummer and every piper as well as the Drum Sargent! (Which never happens). I even had goosebumps on my legs for that one!
Once we did the massed bands each band did a ten minute set for the Mayor and a bunch of spectators, our show was really unique because we got some kids to help us with tambourines and a COW BELL! Yes I know what you're thinking and yes we did have a lot of it. :) Beth was the mastermind behind adding the children and it went over so well! People LOVED it. (Good Job Beth).
Once the show was finished the Mayor invited us (complete with parchment invitation) to his elegant dinning room for lunch. It had marble everywhere and all steps and railings were made from it. I must say, it was pretty spectacular. My friend Michelle said "It was stupid beautiful". :)
We had some pretty fancy stuff all prepared and served by the mayor's chefs and servers. The smoked salmon was said to "melt in your mouth" and could be cut by gravity both said and demonstrated by Miss Madeleine.
So we didn't stick around much in Glasgow because we are competing tomorrow in the Worlds. We got home and spent about 2 hours practising as a band and then I cleaned up the entire flat. I needed a break from practising for a bit. Then I spent another hour or two with Shahna, Michelle and Tim.
I pretty much have it all now, I am having issues with about 3 parts and am hoping a good night sleep will help sink it all in. More practise tomorrow then we get to the guillotine. The plan tomorrow is wake up at 5:30AM, be ready by 6:30AM, get to Glasgow by about 7:30AM and practise until about 10AM when we compete. Afterwards we deflate and get packed away in a box until next year. (OK that made no sense, but I'm leaving it in because it makes for a nice visual).
I don't think our band will be televised because we aren't a grade 1 or 2 band, but if you get a chance to see the event on TV it will be pretty amazing. I saw some of it last year and it was really cool to see all the best bands in the world competing for top prize.
Anyway, it is now 11:30PM here and I need to get to bed so I will be fresh in the morning. I haven't had much in the way of nervousness or butterflies, but I just need to say this. I have never competed in my life and my first competition will be at the biggest event known to the pipe band world. Go big or go back to Germany I guess eh? HA.
I will let you know how everything goes tomorrow night.
Have a good day tomorrow, let me know if you catch any of the bands playing.
Be blessed my friends.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Day 7
OH MY Europe! I've been here for a week!
Today, we got up and met downstairs for 9am dressed in our best to play for the Stirling Castle. We all got cabs and met at the train station. It was a short train ride because I slept most of the way. By the way, it is still raining.
Got to Stirling and got cabs to the castle. The castle was beautiful but there was one building that looked like cheese! It was newly renovated and whatever they did to it made it look exactly like a castle made out of cheese! Of course, that's the building we would be playing in. We dropped off our stuff and went for a walkabout in "Stalling" (said with the Scottish accent).
I saw a really cool store with a bunch of old Star Wars collectibles. Then we went down further, I'm not sure if you know this or not, but Scotland is one giant steep hill of cobblestone and bricks. Add some rain and some Ghillie Brogues and you almost have a giant water park! I couldn't imagine the outcome of their winters. It would be completely unimaginable!
So we stopped into a haunted pub for lunch. I really enjoyed my lunch. It was a beef hamburger and some fresh-cut fries and a "fanta" which is their way of saying and orange crush.
Had I mentioned yet that the rain was still pouring on us? I was about done with the rain. I love it for many reasons, but right now I just wanted it to get lost!
We played in the castle and everyone loved it. Many pictures were taken and lots of wonderful complements.
After that some people took the castle tour, I was too tired and wet to go walking around a huge damp and chilly castle, I just wanted to go home and dry off.
Instead we went back to that haunted pub for some supper. UGH! Oh well I'm sure it would be fun.
We got there and yes, it was fun. There was a urinal that was made for really short scots. The ceiling was slanted so you had to be about 4 feet tall to actually use it. It was basically a trough in the floor and you peed against the wall. So obviously Scotland has bathroom issues too.
On the train ride home I slept again then we all practised about for about 2 hours or so. I learned most of the other 3 scores today and really need to sleep tonight to process it all. It is now about 2:15 and need to be downstairs again for 9AM. We will be doing a parade somewhere representing Canada.
OK so now that I'm caught up, I will try to make tomorrow's post a little more entertaining. I'm just spitting facts out and it doesn't make for the best material.
I hope you can forgive me.
I love you guys.
:)
Today, we got up and met downstairs for 9am dressed in our best to play for the Stirling Castle. We all got cabs and met at the train station. It was a short train ride because I slept most of the way. By the way, it is still raining.
Got to Stirling and got cabs to the castle. The castle was beautiful but there was one building that looked like cheese! It was newly renovated and whatever they did to it made it look exactly like a castle made out of cheese! Of course, that's the building we would be playing in. We dropped off our stuff and went for a walkabout in "Stalling" (said with the Scottish accent).
I saw a really cool store with a bunch of old Star Wars collectibles. Then we went down further, I'm not sure if you know this or not, but Scotland is one giant steep hill of cobblestone and bricks. Add some rain and some Ghillie Brogues and you almost have a giant water park! I couldn't imagine the outcome of their winters. It would be completely unimaginable!
So we stopped into a haunted pub for lunch. I really enjoyed my lunch. It was a beef hamburger and some fresh-cut fries and a "fanta" which is their way of saying and orange crush.
Had I mentioned yet that the rain was still pouring on us? I was about done with the rain. I love it for many reasons, but right now I just wanted it to get lost!
We played in the castle and everyone loved it. Many pictures were taken and lots of wonderful complements.
After that some people took the castle tour, I was too tired and wet to go walking around a huge damp and chilly castle, I just wanted to go home and dry off.
Instead we went back to that haunted pub for some supper. UGH! Oh well I'm sure it would be fun.
We got there and yes, it was fun. There was a urinal that was made for really short scots. The ceiling was slanted so you had to be about 4 feet tall to actually use it. It was basically a trough in the floor and you peed against the wall. So obviously Scotland has bathroom issues too.
On the train ride home I slept again then we all practised about for about 2 hours or so. I learned most of the other 3 scores today and really need to sleep tonight to process it all. It is now about 2:15 and need to be downstairs again for 9AM. We will be doing a parade somewhere representing Canada.
OK so now that I'm caught up, I will try to make tomorrow's post a little more entertaining. I'm just spitting facts out and it doesn't make for the best material.
I hope you can forgive me.
I love you guys.
:)
Day 6
Scotland, Weather: Rain.
OK so up early, practise at 9AM, cancelled. Raining outside. I loved the kind of rain though, it was that fresh-smelling morning misty rain. So instead we all huddled in the upstairs flat to practise. Practise is always a load of fun with many many laughs.
After practise we all went to the train to go to Glasgow to see drumming for drinks. This was a thing were a bunch of great drummers show off their stuff while people drink. It was pretty entertaining, but I was expecting a lot more of the "gods of drumming" to be playing so it didn't end up being overly great. Don't get me wrong though I mean they were good... just not something that you can approach them and ask advice or get to know them better. I would rather see them playing at a highland games because then you can study their moves and ask them questions. I always figure they probably won't remember me, but if they can help me drum, who cares!? At least one of us will get something from the experience.
So after Drumming for Drinks we went shopping and then went to a pub. I ordered a cheap steak supper and it was probably the best meal I have eaten in a week! It was so amazing, I'm not sure if it was really amazing or just felt that way because I wasn't eating German food.
Afterwards I came home to go to the Edinburgh Tattoo. I forgot to mention that it poured all day, so by the time we got home we were a little damp. It was still pouring when we left for the Tattoo. We took a cab for most of the ride, but the cab driver wisely told us to get out and walk the rest of the way. It was about a 15 minute walk up a steep cobble-stoned street up to the castle. About 4000 people all on one street it was a bit much. The rain was pouring still. I had on my Inverness cape, so I was mostly OK. I didn't have a hat on, so the rain was pelting directly into my skull. Finally we arrived at the castle and Kelly paid 2 pounds for the seat cushions and I got the prepaid program. By the time we found our seats it was raining really hard. I was already sick of the rain by now. It was cold and wet. (You know, the wet when you feel wet inside your body).
Finally the show started. Their motto is something like Rain or Shine, we'll be here to entertain you... even if it means you drowning in your friggin seat you stupid jerks! Grrr I wanted to hate their faces!
So the show was really entertaining. There were a few cool pipe bands one from Germany, one from Brazil and one from the Royal something something with the white helmets. I was too wet to care really. About half way though the performance I looked at Kelly and said OK enough is enough! I'm going crazy now with the constant pelting of rain on my skull! She just laughed at me and made fun of the raindrop that was on the end of my nose. (I don't like her most of the time because of how much crap she puts me though!) I told her OK I'll stay, but I just want you to know I don't like you anymore.
So we had about a half hour left of this, I was gathering nice pools of freezing cold water on top of my head and when I looked at something else that was going on, that pool would go down the back of my neck and right into my coat. It would cause me to violently shiver and by the 5th one the woman next to me broke out laughing at me. I have no idea why people find my pain and suffering entertaining.
Finally the end fireworks and massed band march off arrived! I almost dragged Kelly down the steps because getting out of there would have been a nightmare! Grumpy foreigners all over the world were soaking wet in plastic "Glad" bags and making their way back down that massive hill!
By the time we walked home everything was soaked. It was a fun, entertaining and very very very very very very wet. I just wanted a hot shower and to get to bed. We had to get to Stirling castle in the morning and I didn't want to be too tired for it.
We did another practise to prepare ourselves for the competition. I finally learned one of the scores and only had 3 more to go.
Bed time.
Tomorrow's journey? Stirling Castle. I will write even more tonight because I slept on both train rides, so have a bit more energy, but I'm going to have to make it somewhat quick, then I'll be caught up.
See you soon.
OK so up early, practise at 9AM, cancelled. Raining outside. I loved the kind of rain though, it was that fresh-smelling morning misty rain. So instead we all huddled in the upstairs flat to practise. Practise is always a load of fun with many many laughs.
After practise we all went to the train to go to Glasgow to see drumming for drinks. This was a thing were a bunch of great drummers show off their stuff while people drink. It was pretty entertaining, but I was expecting a lot more of the "gods of drumming" to be playing so it didn't end up being overly great. Don't get me wrong though I mean they were good... just not something that you can approach them and ask advice or get to know them better. I would rather see them playing at a highland games because then you can study their moves and ask them questions. I always figure they probably won't remember me, but if they can help me drum, who cares!? At least one of us will get something from the experience.
So after Drumming for Drinks we went shopping and then went to a pub. I ordered a cheap steak supper and it was probably the best meal I have eaten in a week! It was so amazing, I'm not sure if it was really amazing or just felt that way because I wasn't eating German food.
Afterwards I came home to go to the Edinburgh Tattoo. I forgot to mention that it poured all day, so by the time we got home we were a little damp. It was still pouring when we left for the Tattoo. We took a cab for most of the ride, but the cab driver wisely told us to get out and walk the rest of the way. It was about a 15 minute walk up a steep cobble-stoned street up to the castle. About 4000 people all on one street it was a bit much. The rain was pouring still. I had on my Inverness cape, so I was mostly OK. I didn't have a hat on, so the rain was pelting directly into my skull. Finally we arrived at the castle and Kelly paid 2 pounds for the seat cushions and I got the prepaid program. By the time we found our seats it was raining really hard. I was already sick of the rain by now. It was cold and wet. (You know, the wet when you feel wet inside your body).
Finally the show started. Their motto is something like Rain or Shine, we'll be here to entertain you... even if it means you drowning in your friggin seat you stupid jerks! Grrr I wanted to hate their faces!
So the show was really entertaining. There were a few cool pipe bands one from Germany, one from Brazil and one from the Royal something something with the white helmets. I was too wet to care really. About half way though the performance I looked at Kelly and said OK enough is enough! I'm going crazy now with the constant pelting of rain on my skull! She just laughed at me and made fun of the raindrop that was on the end of my nose. (I don't like her most of the time because of how much crap she puts me though!) I told her OK I'll stay, but I just want you to know I don't like you anymore.
So we had about a half hour left of this, I was gathering nice pools of freezing cold water on top of my head and when I looked at something else that was going on, that pool would go down the back of my neck and right into my coat. It would cause me to violently shiver and by the 5th one the woman next to me broke out laughing at me. I have no idea why people find my pain and suffering entertaining.
Finally the end fireworks and massed band march off arrived! I almost dragged Kelly down the steps because getting out of there would have been a nightmare! Grumpy foreigners all over the world were soaking wet in plastic "Glad" bags and making their way back down that massive hill!
By the time we walked home everything was soaked. It was a fun, entertaining and very very very very very very wet. I just wanted a hot shower and to get to bed. We had to get to Stirling castle in the morning and I didn't want to be too tired for it.
We did another practise to prepare ourselves for the competition. I finally learned one of the scores and only had 3 more to go.
Bed time.
Tomorrow's journey? Stirling Castle. I will write even more tonight because I slept on both train rides, so have a bit more energy, but I'm going to have to make it somewhat quick, then I'll be caught up.
See you soon.
Day 5 Part 2
OK so part 2, after arriving in Scotland I made the grumpy boarder guard laugh, that made me feel accomplished. We jumped in a cab and headed to the University to find our flats. Got here in no time, got my room and figured out the internet connection and unpacked. It was really nice to see the band members.
I then went to a market/grocery store to get some food and stuffs to survive on. It was already pretty late when we arrived so we just hung out with some of the band had pizza and practised until about midnight then went to bed.
I know this post is really short and I could have done it last night, but I was really tired.
Day 6 will be posted soonish.
BRB
I then went to a market/grocery store to get some food and stuffs to survive on. It was already pretty late when we arrived so we just hung out with some of the band had pizza and practised until about midnight then went to bed.
I know this post is really short and I could have done it last night, but I was really tired.
Day 6 will be posted soonish.
BRB
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Day 5 Part 1
Getting to Scotland
OK so last time we left each other I was talking about the the final minutes in Germany. We finished up at the Chocolate Factory with plenty of time to take the train to the airport. We went back to the hotel to check emails and whatever trying to kill some time because waiting at the airport for two hours would sort of suck.
We decided to just go anyway, because waiting was waiting and better to wait knowing everything was in place, then wait at the hotel knowing we still had to get to the airport.
That's were the fun begins!
We take the slow train because it is cheaper and we are going to be waiting anyway, when we finally get there after an hour I asked the woman where the airline was boarding... She said OH NOOooo, That isn't this airport, that is the Weeze airport 80k from here!
I looked at Kelly with a sick look I'm sure, KELLY! THIS IS THE WRONG FRIGGIN AIRPORT! In a panic she looked at the time and said we're not going to make it. Don't get me wrong, but I had had enough of Germany. I wanted something a little more familiar now. Scotland might be able to offer that. Something normal.
So we ran outside and Kelly yelled at me to talk to the cab driver to see how long it would take. In half English and half German the cab driver explained to me that the Weeze airport was about one hour away and would cost about 110-150 euro! We had about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get there, do the baggage and get boarded. If we didn't run into traffic it might work. So I said to Kelly, that's too much! She Yelled back WE HAVE NO CHOICE! SO I told the cab driver we're in, we need to make a flight so could you hurry?
We got the bags in, and were on our way. We hit some traffic almost immediately! UGH! WHHHHHY! once we hit the highway we had a few cars to pass and the cab driver got in the fast lane, got up to 110... 120... I though OH GOOD. He's trying hard to get us there. Nothing worse then a cab driver with no agenda. Then there was a turn in the road.... 130... 140.... OK this guy may get a bigger tip now. 150... 160.... Holy crap! What's his hurry! Slow down!... 170...180! OH MY FRIG! Where's my seatbelt?! OK he hit 180 for about 3 minutes then stayed at 160 for about 10 minutes. Then we hit another batch of cars and had to slow right down to 110 again, but seriously!
Anyway, once we got to the airport I ran in with the luggage while Kelly paid the driver $130 with her card. I had like 30 seconds to make the luggage cut off point. I obviously don't know what I'm doing because I stood in a line that wasn't going to do me any good. I was in the right line, but missed the cut off point by at least 15 minutes. I don't get out much so quit making fun of me!
OK so then Kelly figured out where to go and we seriously had 2 minutes to get on the plane. She had to pay another $80 to the emergency luggage guy that would carry the luggage across the tarmac to the plane and hand-bomb them up into the plane or something.
We ran through security and they pushed us through holding doors and everything. Like seriously it was a race to the plane! We finally got there and they closed the door right behind us. It sucked but I was so relieved! I enjoyed Gemany, but I was ready to move on.
The flight to Scotland was uneventful. I made friends with a sweet Scottish lady that wanted me to protect her if we crash-landed. I agreed and told her I would make sure she was the first one off the plane even if I had to throw her off myself! :)
... Scotland!
OK I have a part two to this posting, but I need to get to bed now, it is 1AM and I need to be up for 7AM to play at the Sterling Castle. I will update you more on the fantastic day I had today in part two.
Stay well my darlings, I hope you're enjoying these posts.
:)
OK so last time we left each other I was talking about the the final minutes in Germany. We finished up at the Chocolate Factory with plenty of time to take the train to the airport. We went back to the hotel to check emails and whatever trying to kill some time because waiting at the airport for two hours would sort of suck.
We decided to just go anyway, because waiting was waiting and better to wait knowing everything was in place, then wait at the hotel knowing we still had to get to the airport.
That's were the fun begins!
We take the slow train because it is cheaper and we are going to be waiting anyway, when we finally get there after an hour I asked the woman where the airline was boarding... She said OH NOOooo, That isn't this airport, that is the Weeze airport 80k from here!
I looked at Kelly with a sick look I'm sure, KELLY! THIS IS THE WRONG FRIGGIN AIRPORT! In a panic she looked at the time and said we're not going to make it. Don't get me wrong, but I had had enough of Germany. I wanted something a little more familiar now. Scotland might be able to offer that. Something normal.
So we ran outside and Kelly yelled at me to talk to the cab driver to see how long it would take. In half English and half German the cab driver explained to me that the Weeze airport was about one hour away and would cost about 110-150 euro! We had about 1 hour and 15 minutes to get there, do the baggage and get boarded. If we didn't run into traffic it might work. So I said to Kelly, that's too much! She Yelled back WE HAVE NO CHOICE! SO I told the cab driver we're in, we need to make a flight so could you hurry?
We got the bags in, and were on our way. We hit some traffic almost immediately! UGH! WHHHHHY! once we hit the highway we had a few cars to pass and the cab driver got in the fast lane, got up to 110... 120... I though OH GOOD. He's trying hard to get us there. Nothing worse then a cab driver with no agenda. Then there was a turn in the road.... 130... 140.... OK this guy may get a bigger tip now. 150... 160.... Holy crap! What's his hurry! Slow down!... 170...180! OH MY FRIG! Where's my seatbelt?! OK he hit 180 for about 3 minutes then stayed at 160 for about 10 minutes. Then we hit another batch of cars and had to slow right down to 110 again, but seriously!
Anyway, once we got to the airport I ran in with the luggage while Kelly paid the driver $130 with her card. I had like 30 seconds to make the luggage cut off point. I obviously don't know what I'm doing because I stood in a line that wasn't going to do me any good. I was in the right line, but missed the cut off point by at least 15 minutes. I don't get out much so quit making fun of me!
OK so then Kelly figured out where to go and we seriously had 2 minutes to get on the plane. She had to pay another $80 to the emergency luggage guy that would carry the luggage across the tarmac to the plane and hand-bomb them up into the plane or something.
We ran through security and they pushed us through holding doors and everything. Like seriously it was a race to the plane! We finally got there and they closed the door right behind us. It sucked but I was so relieved! I enjoyed Gemany, but I was ready to move on.
The flight to Scotland was uneventful. I made friends with a sweet Scottish lady that wanted me to protect her if we crash-landed. I agreed and told her I would make sure she was the first one off the plane even if I had to throw her off myself! :)
... Scotland!
OK I have a part two to this posting, but I need to get to bed now, it is 1AM and I need to be up for 7AM to play at the Sterling Castle. I will update you more on the fantastic day I had today in part two.
Stay well my darlings, I hope you're enjoying these posts.
:)
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Day 4
Köln (Cologne) Germany.
So Last night I slept another 6 hours at the Novotel. It was by far the best sleep of my entire stay in Germany. The bed was the perfect amount of hardness with nice heavy pillows. The shower wasn't bad either :) It was also the cleanest of the three and also served the best breakfast! Köln had a faster paced larger city mentality to it. Bigger bistros and more cars. I used to think that most Germans didn't own cars, but now I'm not so sure.
Another interesting fact about Köln (this is just for William mostly) it has a lot of the best looking girls I saw in Germany, so if you're looking for "Hot Chicks" you'll want to head there Mr. There were 3 hotties just at the Novotel! Kelly also saw a hottie guy too. He looked a bit like Vin Diesel and had that whole tough-guy-muscly look and smell to him too. I had to admit though, he was pretty hunky!
Another interesting thing I noticed about Germany was the cars. Most of them are these cutesy/sexy little bug-like cars that are running on diesel fuel. The one thing you need to understand is these cars whip about at frightening speeds and the streets have no real logic behind them, they just have lines going in 400 directions at all times and pedestrians OBEY the cross walk signs. No one walks when the crosswalk says stop. I tried once and almost got killed in the process. Seriously, no logic! Another thing to point out is the red portion is for bikes. Don't make that mistake like I did and walk on it. A German almost ran me down because I was an idiot and he didn't want to cross over onto the gray part.
So today I went to a chocolate factory. It wasn't anything really spectacular because I've been the the Hershey Factory a few times already when it was in Smith Falls. It was a lot of the same information and same process, just a different point of view.
I went to a gothic cathedral that has been around for about a billion years. It was magnificent! It was built over many many years, had such intricate details and beauty beyond any structure I've ever seen in real life. Breathtaking is the only way I could really describe it. I have pictures, but no picture could ever express what it is like in real life. There was a lot to be seen and details details details. My most important observation though was after I sat down in one of the pews. I was just marveling at the amount of detail that went into that place when I overheard one of the tour guides explaining something about the luck that the church had had surviving all the wars and such, then he finished by saying something about hoping it would last another something something then he knocked on the pew and said "knock on wood". That statement alone caused me to understand how stupid people really are. In this magnificent building, all these people visiting every year, they come by the millions... Buildings like this were created to worship an almighty God that is more real and more beautiful then the bricks and carvings made by man. Yet the building is worshiped more then the God it was built for! Furthermore the act of touching or knocking on wood is an act of idolatry! People rubbing, touching, hoping or praying for luck from a piece of wood!? So not only are people worshiping the building, they are also worshiping the pews within the building! I am going to say this so you are clear, there is only ONE GOD that you need to bow to, ONE GOD you need to rub up against and only ONE GOD you need to hope in and you can only get to that ONE GOD through the sacrifice that Jesus made to cleans us and make us holy enough to enter into the presence of that ONE GOD. A building may be beautiful, but there is nothing like the beauty of feeling the forgiveness and love from HIM. Worship the creator not the creation. You are allowed to appreciate architecture, but be careful not to put it before God.
OK back to the topic, I make no apologies to my 15 minute rant about the cathedral, I felt it needed to be done.
I have a few more points about Germany to make. The doors in Germany are SOLID! Like mostly made of heavy wood and if not never hallow like they are in Canada. Most older doors and hand carved beautiful wooden art-forms, usually sporting big metal accessories. The other point is about the old people. Most of the older Germans have no laugh-lines. They seem to have scowls burned into their wrinkles as if they never laughed enough as children. It was almost upsetting because they live in such a beautiful Country and have a lot to smile about. The last thing I want to point out about it is the graffiti. It is EVERYWHERE! I love graffiti, but not when it is everywhere. Especially on things like old buildings and structures that mean something. It was very distracting from the beauty that is more there then the graffiti was.
Final thoughts on my 4 days in Germany. Beautiful. I love the language, I love the land, I love the buildings and I love the weather. The boat ride was about 300 hours too long, but the view from the boat was amazing.
OK, I'm in Scotland now. I will explain tomorrow how getting here almost never happened, for now it is about 3am and I need to be up early for band practise so I will say good night to you.
Bis morgen abend,
Ich liebe Dich!
So Last night I slept another 6 hours at the Novotel. It was by far the best sleep of my entire stay in Germany. The bed was the perfect amount of hardness with nice heavy pillows. The shower wasn't bad either :) It was also the cleanest of the three and also served the best breakfast! Köln had a faster paced larger city mentality to it. Bigger bistros and more cars. I used to think that most Germans didn't own cars, but now I'm not so sure.
Another interesting fact about Köln (this is just for William mostly) it has a lot of the best looking girls I saw in Germany, so if you're looking for "Hot Chicks" you'll want to head there Mr. There were 3 hotties just at the Novotel! Kelly also saw a hottie guy too. He looked a bit like Vin Diesel and had that whole tough-guy-muscly look and smell to him too. I had to admit though, he was pretty hunky!
Another interesting thing I noticed about Germany was the cars. Most of them are these cutesy/sexy little bug-like cars that are running on diesel fuel. The one thing you need to understand is these cars whip about at frightening speeds and the streets have no real logic behind them, they just have lines going in 400 directions at all times and pedestrians OBEY the cross walk signs. No one walks when the crosswalk says stop. I tried once and almost got killed in the process. Seriously, no logic! Another thing to point out is the red portion is for bikes. Don't make that mistake like I did and walk on it. A German almost ran me down because I was an idiot and he didn't want to cross over onto the gray part.
So today I went to a chocolate factory. It wasn't anything really spectacular because I've been the the Hershey Factory a few times already when it was in Smith Falls. It was a lot of the same information and same process, just a different point of view.
I went to a gothic cathedral that has been around for about a billion years. It was magnificent! It was built over many many years, had such intricate details and beauty beyond any structure I've ever seen in real life. Breathtaking is the only way I could really describe it. I have pictures, but no picture could ever express what it is like in real life. There was a lot to be seen and details details details. My most important observation though was after I sat down in one of the pews. I was just marveling at the amount of detail that went into that place when I overheard one of the tour guides explaining something about the luck that the church had had surviving all the wars and such, then he finished by saying something about hoping it would last another something something then he knocked on the pew and said "knock on wood". That statement alone caused me to understand how stupid people really are. In this magnificent building, all these people visiting every year, they come by the millions... Buildings like this were created to worship an almighty God that is more real and more beautiful then the bricks and carvings made by man. Yet the building is worshiped more then the God it was built for! Furthermore the act of touching or knocking on wood is an act of idolatry! People rubbing, touching, hoping or praying for luck from a piece of wood!? So not only are people worshiping the building, they are also worshiping the pews within the building! I am going to say this so you are clear, there is only ONE GOD that you need to bow to, ONE GOD you need to rub up against and only ONE GOD you need to hope in and you can only get to that ONE GOD through the sacrifice that Jesus made to cleans us and make us holy enough to enter into the presence of that ONE GOD. A building may be beautiful, but there is nothing like the beauty of feeling the forgiveness and love from HIM. Worship the creator not the creation. You are allowed to appreciate architecture, but be careful not to put it before God.
OK back to the topic, I make no apologies to my 15 minute rant about the cathedral, I felt it needed to be done.
I have a few more points about Germany to make. The doors in Germany are SOLID! Like mostly made of heavy wood and if not never hallow like they are in Canada. Most older doors and hand carved beautiful wooden art-forms, usually sporting big metal accessories. The other point is about the old people. Most of the older Germans have no laugh-lines. They seem to have scowls burned into their wrinkles as if they never laughed enough as children. It was almost upsetting because they live in such a beautiful Country and have a lot to smile about. The last thing I want to point out about it is the graffiti. It is EVERYWHERE! I love graffiti, but not when it is everywhere. Especially on things like old buildings and structures that mean something. It was very distracting from the beauty that is more there then the graffiti was.
Final thoughts on my 4 days in Germany. Beautiful. I love the language, I love the land, I love the buildings and I love the weather. The boat ride was about 300 hours too long, but the view from the boat was amazing.
OK, I'm in Scotland now. I will explain tomorrow how getting here almost never happened, for now it is about 3am and I need to be up early for band practise so I will say good night to you.
Bis morgen abend,
Ich liebe Dich!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Day 3
Day 3 begins with me getting SIX HOURS SLEEP! YAY!!! I must be getting used to waxed sheets or something. OK so good sleep bad shower. UGH! No pressure, inconstant heat and no shower curtain! I didn't care though, I just cleaned it up with the leftover towels. I know that isn't environmentally friendly, but I blame the hotel for their slight stupidity.
Then had a pretty good hotel breakfast. Mostly fruit and bread because I was afraid of the ham and eggs!
Next stop the remaining 8 hours of the 10 hour tour of the Rhein! The first 2 hours yesterday were amazing I can hardly wait for the others! After seeing about 20 beautiful castles and the amazing wine crops that were on the mountains in the first hour, the remaining 7 hours of the same-old-same-old got really really really old. I don't really think it was just that, it was because we were indoors for most of it. The rain and wind were too much on the top-deck so we were all huddled into the dinning rooms. It was fine at first but we ended up with a rude waitress that messed up the order and swore at us in German. I don't know what she said, but I know it was bad. You can feel hate in any language.
It was her mess up, but of course, blame the stupid Americans! (Ha, she didn't know we were really stupid Canadians!) Wait... that comeback didn't work out at all! :/
Anyway, I needed a change from the boring insides of the stuffy dinning room so I dragged Kelly to the top-deck when the sun came out. It lasted about 40 minutes it was beautiful and I had a short nap in the sun. It was awesome! Then it started raining again. I refused to believe it was raining and sat there in defiance. After about an hour with a little child's umbrella I was cold, wet and defeated. By the way, Kelly didn't like me at all by this point, she had been cowering with all the other sane people under the canopy, she told me I was an idiot and she was going back into the warmth without me. I knew I had already lost against the weather so I agreed that I was an idiot and went down with her.
OK so back to boring. OH MY GOODNESS! For 6 hours in a slow-moving boat, a jerk of a waitress and stuffy air, not a lot of sleep over 3 days I could barely keep my eyes open. I struggled like that for 6 WHOLE hours! The rain was non-stop and everything seemed to hurt.
Finally the boat pulled over and told us all to get off! I told Kelly that they were kicking everyone off for some reason! She lost it for a few seconds because this wasn't part of the plan, but then we found out pretty quickly that another boat was going to continue the rest of the journey. We went from a crabby waitressed boring boat, to an amazing waitered ship! This boat was 3 levels instead of two and all the staff were top-notch! The waiter alone was worth the switch!
Anyway, because the journey was more of the same, it still hurt that we had another 2 hours left and had to be inside.
FINALLY the boat landed and we piled off in Köln Germany
Not much else to report about today other than I'm in a nicer hotel with an internet connection. I ate some German version of Subway because I just wanted a meal that wasn't like gambling. I rather enjoyed it. :)
Tomorrow is a couple museums and a train ride and a flight to Scotland. I will keep you posted on the outcome.
I love you all! :)
Day 2
OK so I have no internet connection, but I'm in Rüdesheim. It is now 10:30pm local time, 4:30PM Sunday afternoon EST.
Let me start by saying last night instead of sleeping, I watched the fireplace channel. Yes. I went to bed early, and was up about 2 hours later because I can't sleep in strange beds. Something about it, just can't do it. I think I got maybe 3 hours all night. I also hate hotel sheets. They seem like they are 50% synthetic material, 40% isolation and about 10% wax. They feel completely gross against my skin, so I have to go to bed fully clothed to actually make a dent in my sleep.
You can quote me on this...
"Bedsheets... if they're anything else, they're not flannel!"
So after Mainz, I got up earlier than I wanted to, even though I wasn't really sleeping anyway. I had a wonderful “Hotel Shower”... LOVE hotel showers! The water is always extra hot and extra powerful! The towels suck no matter where you are in the world though. They're too small and always seem sort of waxy... kinda like those stupid sheets!
So, I got to the dock for the river cruise extra early because Kelly misjudged the time, but whatever, it was a nice morning with overcast clouds and some itsy bitsy spits of rain. One of my favorite kinds of weather. :)
I met a few people waiting for the cruise, a mother and daughter from Seattle Washington, I kept looking for an opportunity to throw in “I LOVE YOUE MOVIE!” but never found it. Rent it, I highly recommend it. Then I met another couple from China who's son is living in Germany for work. They kept asking me a lot of questions about myself but never asked them about their selves.... so they automatically filled in for my stupidity. (really though, I just wanted to be left alone, I was grumpy and tired and didn't really care about meeting people that early in the morning on no sleep). Actually it was usually in awkward situations too though, like the bathroom or a too-small elevator when he wanted to talk to me. If you ever meet me in the bathroom ignore me, cause I'll be doing the same to you. I don't think bathrooms are the best place to catch up on life. Bathrooms are a simple business exchange. You go in, make your deposit, wash your hands and get out leaving no trace that you were even there.
Besides, I'm kind of a jerk when I don't get sleep. SO LEAVE ME ALONE! :)
We enjoyed the 3 hour long cruise to Rüdesheim. Very beautiful landscape, old castles and more of that Qubec crap that I talked about earlier. Plus a couple bardges worth of scrap metal on it's way somewhere to be dumped. We had some “wonderful” breakfast aboard the “ship”, Kelly had some low-fat cheese sandwich that came with a half-pound of butter already spread on the bun, tomatoes and cucumbers and salty ham. She could barely eat it. I asked the waiter if they had maple syrup... here's how it went down:
Him: Sorry I don't understand.
Me: Maple? Syrup? You now... Syrup? Only made with maple?
Him: SOUP?
Me: AH! Nevermind! Kann Ich habe the scrambled eggs and ham bitte?
Him: Yes, coming right up!
OK so I forgot that Germans have a different way of doing meat. It came to the table, it looked wonderful! I bit into it and almost choked to death! The eggs were fine, but the ham was sooooo salty! It destroyed the entire edibility of the whole thing. It was honestly like eating a salt-lick with some eggs! Oh my gosh and the ORANGE JUICE!!! They don't sweeten their orange juice! It was 90% sludge and pulp with some orange flavoured water. I ate everything because I did order it, and I knew that arguing with Germans in their own language would be a lesson in overcoming frustration. I just need to vent about it though... It was only eggs for frig! How do you mess up EGGS!?
Whatever, breakfast done, next lesson to be learned.
We soon came to Rüdesheim. Let me start by saying I LOVE this little town. Wonderful, Beautiful and full FULL of history.
When we finally LUGGED our luggage to the hotel room, (ask me about this in person, and I'll tell you a story about Kelly and I arguing about her knowing everything about travel and wishing for her death on a stick), we were about 5 hours too early for check in. So we stored our luggage at the hotel and went for a scenic tour of the land. In the short 5 hours walking the streets of Rüdesheim I learned to love Germany. It has more history in one block then Canada does in its entire existence. There are these streets that are beautifully cobblestoned and some old romantically crafted buildings of old stone that date back close to the 1500's. I saw a bunch of wine presses that out dated Canada! It is truly beautiful.
Then I went on a cable car ride of the wineries. Again, amazing to see the difference between Picton wineries and ones that have been around for about 700 years. Even the streets have various grape plants that are probably older than Canada growing in them. I have some pictures I will post somewhere to show you. I still need to figure that out in the blog settings.
OK so I don't know how to explain this one detail but I will try by starting with a title.
“European Bathrooms!”
I have never in my life met a culture so bizarre about bathrooms. The first Hotel in Mainz had a glass door for a bathroom door. Hey everyone! I'm peeing! Yeah-ha-ha!
Secondly, Rüdesheim, they had PUBLIC PAY TOILETS! If you had to go, you drop a couple euros into a slot and you get to relieve yourself! If you're short on cash, you pee your pants. Simple math.
Then there is this two-button flush game in the wall (Yes, you flush in the wall), One button that's big, another that isn't. I pushed both of them to see what happens and I can't tell the difference! I know it's a mind game and I'm losing! Then there is the way it flushes. In Canada it has a nice swirly effect causing all the contents to nicely get sucked down the hole never to be seen again. (See earlier note about leaving no evidence) Here, there is a tilde-wave of water that magically comes from nowhere (They don't have back-tanks) and nothing actually goes down the hole! You have to press those stupid buttons in some random combination to leave no trace! Grrrr!
OK OK I know TMI, but I had to tell you because it is very frustrating.
I visited a couple museums and have some pictures and videos of it. I don't think I could ever explain what I saw as well as the video could, so stay tuned for that.
At the end of the day just before going back to the hotel I saw a sign for a Scottish Pub!!! OH MY GOSH How did I miss that the first 20 times I passed it? Anyway after getting directions I found it about 4 blocks away. I went in really excited and about 30 seconds later left completely disappointed. They were playing Barbie Girl and the entire place was full of chain-smokers! (By “Full” I mean all 9 of them). I don't think Barbie was Scottish, but whatever.
OK so final note about today, I'm not sure if you can even understand this point, but it hit me all of a sudden. There are no screens on any of the windows! The main reason? NO MOSQUITOES!!! Then I remembered one of my favorite people in the world telling me this before. Not only is there no mosquitoes, but bugs in general are very scarce. I think Germany just won some HUGE brownie points from me! I don't know how they did it, maybe mosquitoes hate the taste of Germans. My only guess is they probably taste like salty ham... I get it mosquitoes, I really do.
:)
OK I'm a day behind in my blog, I'm going to attempt one more for today's adventures, but if I don't get it finished, please stay tuned.
Mmmmmwah!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Day One & Two
Hello my darlings,
OK so my time is all messed up because it is now 8:44PM and I don't know whether to use current time or EST.
Anyway, "Yesterday" was one of the most stressful days of my life. I was literally running in the house to get things done.
One of the best things I want to mention was I got my hard drive restored!!! This was really affecting my life in so many ways. I want to thank Tunstall & Tunstall @ http://www.datarecoveryservices.com (613.723.1225) They honestly did the impossible! The heads had broken off on in my hard drive and the exact moment my backup failed. Chances are slim that it would happen both at the same time... but sometimes that's how life is. Anyway, I can't say enough about them, beautiful to deal with beautiful outcome. I would probably carry on about them, but I have no AC on my laptop and need to fill in everyone on what else I'm doing, but let me say I am so pleased with the results.
OK so stressful day. I tried feverishly to get everything done and needed only about 2 more hours to be finally finished, so a few things were left undone just to catch the flight.
The first flight was to Montreal, a little plane but the trip was OK, nothing major to report. The second flight was the 7 hour-long flight. Let me try to explain in a way that you might get. 1000 people, all from different cultures (including Quebec)... each culture on the planet obviously has their own unique scent... Trapped in a hollow tube with piped air for 7 full hours. No sleep and a poor excuse for a movie screen and you get a disgustingly awful smelling, sweaty tube of foreign sludge that seems to stick to you about 5 hours after you've left. I don't recommend the flight to anyone. Not only that when you land at about 4AM, and you see everyone bright and shiny because it is 10AM local time, you will hate the Swiss, just for being. (I'm joking about that last part, you'll hate them for their scent too!).
OK so the 7 hour flight was supposed to only take 6.5 hours, so we missed the connecting flight. I ended up sleeping on the marble floor for an hour because I couldn't stay awake any longer. (Long stressful day + crappy flight = exhausted).
I was a little upset about Switzerland because I have heard that they have some of the best looking women in the world, I'm not sure if the airport is the best place to use for sampling, but let me just say... meh? Maybe next time I will have to hit up a mountain or something.
So we got a flight about 1.5 hours later. It was better... German, and served a Camembert Sandwich and Warsteiner luncheon. :)
Landing in Germany was already a better feeling than Switzerland. (Maybe because I slept for an hour on a cold marble floor).
Anyway, we landed in Frankfurt, got our luggage (which arrived with us on our flight, way to go airport staff!). We then hopped on a train to get to Mainz. Looking out the window as we travelled I noticed some very interesting things about Germany. One was they all have Crinkle-Cut Rooftops. Then I saw some butterflies. I knew they were German because they flapped in a goose-step unison. (Impressive!) Something else I noticed was there were people drinking alcohol on the public transit. Odd.
One of the best things though was the buildings, besides some of them looking very run-down (reminded me of Quebec sort of), some of them were really beautiful! The Crinkle-Cut thing really works.
Also another cool thing, I could understand a lot of what people were saying to me. I even responded to a few people (mostly in English because I don't want to sound like an idiot).
Once we finally arrived at the hotel I had a shower and took a two hour nap. Oh my goodness were both those things heavenly!
I just got back from a walk to the closest "hub" and saw a few things that made me laugh, one was a pizza hut and one was a McDonald's. Both places smelled the same as they do in Canada. The oddest part of the walk was seeing people drinking on the street and that all stores sold alcohol. Including a pharmacy-like store called Ihrplatz, which I'm guessing translates to "Your Place".
Anyway, it started raining pretty hard so that killed the walk.
OK shoot, I'm running out of time to make this a bit more entertaining to read, so I'll just give you a short rundown of tomorrow.
Tomorrow we're taking the Rhine Cruise which is supposed to take two days. I'm hoping to have power to my laptop sometime tomorrow night so I can give you more details.
Until then Guten Abend!
*Hugs
OK so my time is all messed up because it is now 8:44PM and I don't know whether to use current time or EST.
Anyway, "Yesterday" was one of the most stressful days of my life. I was literally running in the house to get things done.
One of the best things I want to mention was I got my hard drive restored!!! This was really affecting my life in so many ways. I want to thank Tunstall & Tunstall @ http://www.datarecoveryservices.com (613.723.1225) They honestly did the impossible! The heads had broken off on in my hard drive and the exact moment my backup failed. Chances are slim that it would happen both at the same time... but sometimes that's how life is. Anyway, I can't say enough about them, beautiful to deal with beautiful outcome. I would probably carry on about them, but I have no AC on my laptop and need to fill in everyone on what else I'm doing, but let me say I am so pleased with the results.
OK so stressful day. I tried feverishly to get everything done and needed only about 2 more hours to be finally finished, so a few things were left undone just to catch the flight.
The first flight was to Montreal, a little plane but the trip was OK, nothing major to report. The second flight was the 7 hour-long flight. Let me try to explain in a way that you might get. 1000 people, all from different cultures (including Quebec)... each culture on the planet obviously has their own unique scent... Trapped in a hollow tube with piped air for 7 full hours. No sleep and a poor excuse for a movie screen and you get a disgustingly awful smelling, sweaty tube of foreign sludge that seems to stick to you about 5 hours after you've left. I don't recommend the flight to anyone. Not only that when you land at about 4AM, and you see everyone bright and shiny because it is 10AM local time, you will hate the Swiss, just for being. (I'm joking about that last part, you'll hate them for their scent too!).
OK so the 7 hour flight was supposed to only take 6.5 hours, so we missed the connecting flight. I ended up sleeping on the marble floor for an hour because I couldn't stay awake any longer. (Long stressful day + crappy flight = exhausted).
I was a little upset about Switzerland because I have heard that they have some of the best looking women in the world, I'm not sure if the airport is the best place to use for sampling, but let me just say... meh? Maybe next time I will have to hit up a mountain or something.
So we got a flight about 1.5 hours later. It was better... German, and served a Camembert Sandwich and Warsteiner luncheon. :)
Landing in Germany was already a better feeling than Switzerland. (Maybe because I slept for an hour on a cold marble floor).
Anyway, we landed in Frankfurt, got our luggage (which arrived with us on our flight, way to go airport staff!). We then hopped on a train to get to Mainz. Looking out the window as we travelled I noticed some very interesting things about Germany. One was they all have Crinkle-Cut Rooftops. Then I saw some butterflies. I knew they were German because they flapped in a goose-step unison. (Impressive!) Something else I noticed was there were people drinking alcohol on the public transit. Odd.
One of the best things though was the buildings, besides some of them looking very run-down (reminded me of Quebec sort of), some of them were really beautiful! The Crinkle-Cut thing really works.
Also another cool thing, I could understand a lot of what people were saying to me. I even responded to a few people (mostly in English because I don't want to sound like an idiot).
Once we finally arrived at the hotel I had a shower and took a two hour nap. Oh my goodness were both those things heavenly!
I just got back from a walk to the closest "hub" and saw a few things that made me laugh, one was a pizza hut and one was a McDonald's. Both places smelled the same as they do in Canada. The oddest part of the walk was seeing people drinking on the street and that all stores sold alcohol. Including a pharmacy-like store called Ihrplatz, which I'm guessing translates to "Your Place".
Anyway, it started raining pretty hard so that killed the walk.
OK shoot, I'm running out of time to make this a bit more entertaining to read, so I'll just give you a short rundown of tomorrow.
Tomorrow we're taking the Rhine Cruise which is supposed to take two days. I'm hoping to have power to my laptop sometime tomorrow night so I can give you more details.
Until then Guten Abend!
*Hugs
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Preparing for the Trip (Count Down 1)
YIKES! What a stressful day! I had a few meetings lots of issues to deal with, still not enough time to do everything! I'm ZOSTED! Mostly mentally though.
I got a bunch of stuff accomplished today, but not enough! I got my kilt back from the dry-cleaners today. It no longer smells like the jockstrap of a linebacker. The mould on my glen is gone, so I now don't know which is mine if they were thrown in a pile. I just hope my vest shrunk a little because it was made for a fat guy! ...well fatter then me anyway.
Also, I'm trying to book some entertainers for an event that I was supposed to entertain for, but I can't because of this trip, so it has added about 300 pounds of stress to my life. I leave tomorrow and still have a million things to do for it all.
So as you can probably guess, I still haven't packed and still haven't mentally prepared myself and I leave tomorrow. (BTW, Please apologize to the pilot for me when I'm waiting for the outcome of that in a holding cell).
Good news though! The house is clean now!!! I just spent another 4 hours on it. I still need to clean the bathrooms, but that will be done in the morning. I did all my laundry and will be washing my sheets in the morning. I'm a really nice guy so I'm going to be washing Kelly's sheets and will even vacuum her bedroom floor for her too. Yeah, I'm sweet, don't rub it in! :)
I'm so not ready to go yet. I might actually cling to my desk after all! I am just thinking about all the little details I have to do for tomorrow. Ugh! I don't know how anyone with a real life could actually travel! Who has time?!
OK so you might find this funny. I went down town today and passed by a street full of police cruisers and a couple ambulances. It looked like someone got shot or something. So I went to my appointment and afterwards I left. Ooops, forgot my sunglasses! Well downtown is a series of one way streets. I got lost trying to get back, and at every turn there was always a cop sitting at the stop sign! Like there must have been at least 20-30 of them down there! (or maybe just one and kept circling him). So if you're like me you start to get nervous. Too many cops hanging about and one of them is bound to pull you over for some stupid mistake. You try your best to do everything right, but seriously they spook you! You start feeling like you've done something wrong for absolutely no reason! Being lost doesn't help because now you're driving in circles trying to act normal, which only makes you look more shifty... FINALLY after about 20 minutes of hating one way turns, I found the place again got my sunglasses and went home!
OK so now I can get to my point. In that time I must have gotten really freaked out about the cops everywhere, because just before I went home I went into a Rexall to get a drink, and while I was paying someone yelled, "Hey there are cops outside with their guns drawn!". I seriously turned around to get on the floor with my hands on the back of my head! Just before I bent my knee though I realized the person yelling it was a friend of the tellers and was ONLY joking. LIKE WHAT THE HECK!? Two things bothered me about that, one WHO DOES THAT AS A JOKE!!! Second, WHY DID I THINK THEY WERE AFTER ME!?
Yes, I have issues.
OK so the plane takes off tomorrow around 6:30PM or so, I'm going to probably freak out when I get to bed tonight and then not sleep. I hope that isn't true because I really need some sleep.
I have another busy day tomorrow but I will try to write one more pre-flight post so you can know how freaked out I really am.
Tomorrow. Yep. Big day.
Goodnight my darlings.
I got a bunch of stuff accomplished today, but not enough! I got my kilt back from the dry-cleaners today. It no longer smells like the jockstrap of a linebacker. The mould on my glen is gone, so I now don't know which is mine if they were thrown in a pile. I just hope my vest shrunk a little because it was made for a fat guy! ...well fatter then me anyway.
Also, I'm trying to book some entertainers for an event that I was supposed to entertain for, but I can't because of this trip, so it has added about 300 pounds of stress to my life. I leave tomorrow and still have a million things to do for it all.
So as you can probably guess, I still haven't packed and still haven't mentally prepared myself and I leave tomorrow. (BTW, Please apologize to the pilot for me when I'm waiting for the outcome of that in a holding cell).
Good news though! The house is clean now!!! I just spent another 4 hours on it. I still need to clean the bathrooms, but that will be done in the morning. I did all my laundry and will be washing my sheets in the morning. I'm a really nice guy so I'm going to be washing Kelly's sheets and will even vacuum her bedroom floor for her too. Yeah, I'm sweet, don't rub it in! :)
I'm so not ready to go yet. I might actually cling to my desk after all! I am just thinking about all the little details I have to do for tomorrow. Ugh! I don't know how anyone with a real life could actually travel! Who has time?!
OK so you might find this funny. I went down town today and passed by a street full of police cruisers and a couple ambulances. It looked like someone got shot or something. So I went to my appointment and afterwards I left. Ooops, forgot my sunglasses! Well downtown is a series of one way streets. I got lost trying to get back, and at every turn there was always a cop sitting at the stop sign! Like there must have been at least 20-30 of them down there! (or maybe just one and kept circling him). So if you're like me you start to get nervous. Too many cops hanging about and one of them is bound to pull you over for some stupid mistake. You try your best to do everything right, but seriously they spook you! You start feeling like you've done something wrong for absolutely no reason! Being lost doesn't help because now you're driving in circles trying to act normal, which only makes you look more shifty... FINALLY after about 20 minutes of hating one way turns, I found the place again got my sunglasses and went home!
OK so now I can get to my point. In that time I must have gotten really freaked out about the cops everywhere, because just before I went home I went into a Rexall to get a drink, and while I was paying someone yelled, "Hey there are cops outside with their guns drawn!". I seriously turned around to get on the floor with my hands on the back of my head! Just before I bent my knee though I realized the person yelling it was a friend of the tellers and was ONLY joking. LIKE WHAT THE HECK!? Two things bothered me about that, one WHO DOES THAT AS A JOKE!!! Second, WHY DID I THINK THEY WERE AFTER ME!?
Yes, I have issues.
OK so the plane takes off tomorrow around 6:30PM or so, I'm going to probably freak out when I get to bed tonight and then not sleep. I hope that isn't true because I really need some sleep.
I have another busy day tomorrow but I will try to write one more pre-flight post so you can know how freaked out I really am.
Tomorrow. Yep. Big day.
Goodnight my darlings.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Preparing for the Trip (Count Down 2)
OK so I'm starting this posting early tonight because I need a break from freaking out about all the stuff I need to do over the next two days. I have a 9am committee meeting, a 1:15 dentist appointment and a 4PM meeting with Shahna to go over drum scores that I don't yet know and will be competing with in a week or so. I haven't packed, I haven't mentally prepared myself so I'm going to get on the plane and probably punch the pilot when he says hello to me! It won't be intentional, he'll just catch me off guard or something and with all the stress... well, you know. By the way, that dentist appointment is an emergency one because I broke my friggin tooth when I bit down on something! LIKE I DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH TO DO! My teeth are jerks!
Actually, I am a very fortunate person blessed with excellent health. I just don't have the best teeth in the world. Man, if I had great teeth, was good looking and had a ton of money, WHOAH look out! I would be such a catch! However, I don't. Frig sakes.
Anyway what was I saying? OH, my day... I cleaned all day today. I know I said I would tackle a room a day, but I did the living room and kitchen all day today. I cleaned out the fridge and threw out everything basically. Things that were rotten and things that will be rotten by the time I get home. Who knew salad dressing had an expiry date!? Salad dressings are jerks!
<side note>
Can someone PLEASE tell me why rotting Chinese Food is the most FOUL smelling of all the take outs?
</side note>
So I'm closer to getting the house clean, but far away from getting everything else done. I still need to vacuum and mop the floors, but that is the easy part, always the last on the list. Bathrooms are tomorrow.
I spent about 4 hours practising on my drum pad, I miss practising for that long. I'm really out of shape. I haven't worked on my drum pad like that in about 2 years! I really focused on my 5 stroke roll, it was sloppier than I like it to be, now it is quite sexy. I'm not sure if you know this, but the 5 stroke roll is the most aggressive rudiment and if played properly, it makes you sound amazing! Some of you may not care, but I do. I'm actually quite passionate about how I drum. I want to be perfect. However, seeing all the grade one drummers in Maxville over the weekend doesn't do much for encouragement. Some of those guys play for like 8 hours a day for their whole career! Can you believe after their whole life, they still learn something new all the time? It's only one drum!
So anyway, I've been ignoring how I'm feeling about the trip. I've been too busy trying to get everything done. I have been practising my Germish though. I keep saying phrases to myself and trying to remember how to answer me. It got me thinking about movies with German in them, so I watched The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy as I was cleaning. I couldn't believe how much I understood! I'm actually excited because I've only taken about 10 hours of German! Which brings me to another point. I took French my WHOLE LIFE! From Kindergarten (Kinder meaning child in German by the way) right through to grade 12 and I know how to say my colours and count and my A, B, C's. That is like 3640 hours of French over my entire life!!! There is something either wrong with the school system, or there is something wrong with French! I'm going with French because the school system is perfect!
HA!
So anyway, I have a busy day tomorrow, so I'm going to excuse myself for now... I hope to meet you back here tomorrow for an update. OK I just got butterflies, tomorrow at this time I will be signing off because I will be leaving the next day!
Yeah I get how weird that was to follow.
G'night my darlings :)
Actually, I am a very fortunate person blessed with excellent health. I just don't have the best teeth in the world. Man, if I had great teeth, was good looking and had a ton of money, WHOAH look out! I would be such a catch! However, I don't. Frig sakes.
Anyway what was I saying? OH, my day... I cleaned all day today. I know I said I would tackle a room a day, but I did the living room and kitchen all day today. I cleaned out the fridge and threw out everything basically. Things that were rotten and things that will be rotten by the time I get home. Who knew salad dressing had an expiry date!? Salad dressings are jerks!
<side note>
Can someone PLEASE tell me why rotting Chinese Food is the most FOUL smelling of all the take outs?
</side note>
So I'm closer to getting the house clean, but far away from getting everything else done. I still need to vacuum and mop the floors, but that is the easy part, always the last on the list. Bathrooms are tomorrow.
I spent about 4 hours practising on my drum pad, I miss practising for that long. I'm really out of shape. I haven't worked on my drum pad like that in about 2 years! I really focused on my 5 stroke roll, it was sloppier than I like it to be, now it is quite sexy. I'm not sure if you know this, but the 5 stroke roll is the most aggressive rudiment and if played properly, it makes you sound amazing! Some of you may not care, but I do. I'm actually quite passionate about how I drum. I want to be perfect. However, seeing all the grade one drummers in Maxville over the weekend doesn't do much for encouragement. Some of those guys play for like 8 hours a day for their whole career! Can you believe after their whole life, they still learn something new all the time? It's only one drum!
So anyway, I've been ignoring how I'm feeling about the trip. I've been too busy trying to get everything done. I have been practising my Germish though. I keep saying phrases to myself and trying to remember how to answer me. It got me thinking about movies with German in them, so I watched The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Supremacy as I was cleaning. I couldn't believe how much I understood! I'm actually excited because I've only taken about 10 hours of German! Which brings me to another point. I took French my WHOLE LIFE! From Kindergarten (Kinder meaning child in German by the way) right through to grade 12 and I know how to say my colours and count and my A, B, C's. That is like 3640 hours of French over my entire life!!! There is something either wrong with the school system, or there is something wrong with French! I'm going with French because the school system is perfect!
HA!
So anyway, I have a busy day tomorrow, so I'm going to excuse myself for now... I hope to meet you back here tomorrow for an update. OK I just got butterflies, tomorrow at this time I will be signing off because I will be leaving the next day!
Yeah I get how weird that was to follow.
G'night my darlings :)
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Preparing for the Trip (Count Down 3)
Hello everyone,
OK so I'm going to Scotland, Germany and London and people keep asking me to take pictures and keep them informed on what I'm doing, so the best way to do that is by blogging it.
This will be my first official blog, so I am going to do my best to update this daily. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to do that when I won't have my laptop or my phone... but seriously phones suck for typing anyway. I use "swype" and I still hate it! Full sized keyboards are the way to go.
SO introductions to this whole thing. I have been blessed with a trip by my very dear "other family" and Kelly. If you don't know the situation, I'm sort of like a dysfunctional needy bum that they've adopted off the street. I keep trying to repay their kindness, but I can never keep up! I know people get upset with me when I talk down about myself, but you're just going to have to deal with it like I have to! Frig. Anyway, I've made Kelly a promise to enjoy this trip because "she needs this trip more than I do" and I figure she just wants me to tag along to carry her luggage anyway, so I'll keep a smile on my face while I'm carrying her crap up the mountain. :/
By the way, if it seems as though I'm making fun of this trip, it isn't done out of disrespect, it is done out of fear. I've never gone anywhere and I'm really nervous about it. Besides, I like my bed a lot and will miss it.
So, the plan is to land the plane in Switzerland, take a camel to Germany, Get on a leaky boat in Germany for 2 days then a plane to Scotland, where I will be competing for the first time in my life... which will be at the worlds. Fan-friggin-tastic.
<rabbit trail>
To be honest, I don't like competing. I have too many issues with it, both personal and emotional, and could care less if some jerk with a clipboard thinks I'm good or not. I want to play for people that enjoy music and become the best I can be. I teach because playing with people that are just as good or better is an awesome feeling and so is the feeling of seeing people progress. I actually get more enjoyment out of teaching then actually playing now. However, I still perfect myself because there is nothing better then landing that last accent on a perfect set. Basically, I do it for the music, not the jerk with a clipboard.
</rabbit trail>
So anyway, after 10 days in Scotland, I'm going to London for a sandwich and then fly back home to Canada. I like Canada by the way. Just in case you didn't know that. Why anyone would want to leave here is still strange to me.
I have only three nights left before I leave, I haven't packed, I haven't mentally prepared myself and I have a crap-load of stuff to do before I can actually leave.
My plan is to come back to a clean house, so I'm tackling one room a day for the next three days in hopes that I can get it all done (plus the other stuff I need to get done which is way beyond the scope of this blog, so I'll shut-up about it).
So over the next 3 days I will be preparing myself to understand that I'm going to be leaving North America for the first time ever. It hasn't really hit me yet, and I haven't started clinging to my desk... time will tell if that actually happens.
More to follow...
OK so I'm going to Scotland, Germany and London and people keep asking me to take pictures and keep them informed on what I'm doing, so the best way to do that is by blogging it.
This will be my first official blog, so I am going to do my best to update this daily. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to do that when I won't have my laptop or my phone... but seriously phones suck for typing anyway. I use "swype" and I still hate it! Full sized keyboards are the way to go.
SO introductions to this whole thing. I have been blessed with a trip by my very dear "other family" and Kelly. If you don't know the situation, I'm sort of like a dysfunctional needy bum that they've adopted off the street. I keep trying to repay their kindness, but I can never keep up! I know people get upset with me when I talk down about myself, but you're just going to have to deal with it like I have to! Frig. Anyway, I've made Kelly a promise to enjoy this trip because "she needs this trip more than I do" and I figure she just wants me to tag along to carry her luggage anyway, so I'll keep a smile on my face while I'm carrying her crap up the mountain. :/
By the way, if it seems as though I'm making fun of this trip, it isn't done out of disrespect, it is done out of fear. I've never gone anywhere and I'm really nervous about it. Besides, I like my bed a lot and will miss it.
So, the plan is to land the plane in Switzerland, take a camel to Germany, Get on a leaky boat in Germany for 2 days then a plane to Scotland, where I will be competing for the first time in my life... which will be at the worlds. Fan-friggin-tastic.
<rabbit trail>
To be honest, I don't like competing. I have too many issues with it, both personal and emotional, and could care less if some jerk with a clipboard thinks I'm good or not. I want to play for people that enjoy music and become the best I can be. I teach because playing with people that are just as good or better is an awesome feeling and so is the feeling of seeing people progress. I actually get more enjoyment out of teaching then actually playing now. However, I still perfect myself because there is nothing better then landing that last accent on a perfect set. Basically, I do it for the music, not the jerk with a clipboard.
</rabbit trail>
So anyway, after 10 days in Scotland, I'm going to London for a sandwich and then fly back home to Canada. I like Canada by the way. Just in case you didn't know that. Why anyone would want to leave here is still strange to me.
I have only three nights left before I leave, I haven't packed, I haven't mentally prepared myself and I have a crap-load of stuff to do before I can actually leave.
My plan is to come back to a clean house, so I'm tackling one room a day for the next three days in hopes that I can get it all done (plus the other stuff I need to get done which is way beyond the scope of this blog, so I'll shut-up about it).
So over the next 3 days I will be preparing myself to understand that I'm going to be leaving North America for the first time ever. It hasn't really hit me yet, and I haven't started clinging to my desk... time will tell if that actually happens.
More to follow...
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