Bring on the Pipes!

On Saturday, I went to Celtic Connections in Glasgow to see The Annual Piping Concert with the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band and Bagad Cap Caval. Celtic Connections is an annual Scottish festival (held in Glasgow) celebrating Scottish Celtic music. All Scottish festivals will be a little grander this year due to celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the birth of Rabbie Burns, and as well Scottish Homecoming.

It was a good concert, though while I admit being a fan of the pipes, two hours of traditional bagpipe music can be a little tiring, and loud (especially with 20 pipers on stage). This was specifically the case with the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band - they were very good performers, though it was a little like watching a high school marching band. However, I was impressed by Bagad Cap Caval (some info in English). Hailing from Breton in France, they brought a younger, hipper performance to the stage. Yes, you heard right, younger, hipper bag piping. The music seemed to have a Persian influence as well which made it more interesting.

As for Celtic Connections, I hope to make it back to Glasgow (only a 45-minute train ride), but only if Alette and I can find room in our calendars!

Choir Practice

Last week I joined a choir: The Practice Choir. It's something I've wanted to do since I started taking singing lessons (for the second time) last year when we were still in Ottawa. It's an amateur choir, and there was no audition (whew!). The first practice was a lot of fun, and relatively quick-paced. And while it's referred to as 'The Practice Choir', and an amateur choir, I discovered from one of the members that he's been in the choir since 1974.

There are probably close to 100 people in the choir, including 8 men who sing bass (what they refer to as '2nd bass') and baritone (referred to as '1st bass'). They have no tenors, and while I can sing in the tenor range, I think I'll wait to get a bit more practice before I volunteer to sing the tenor parts on my own.

Our first performance is on April 4th, where we'll be performing Messe Solennelle, St Cecilia's Mass by Gounod, and Te Deum, for the Empress Marie Therese, by Haydn.

London Calling

Now that I've recovered from my first Edinburgh cold, it looks as though we have some catching up to do on the ol' bloggin' front. But don't worry, I won't blog about my cold!

A couple of weekends ago, we finally made it down to London to visit Cordelia, Liam, Brad and Em. (Faithful readers will remember our first attempt, which was substituted by a trip to the Highlands.) A great time was had by all. I'd even dare say that some formerly negative opinions of London were brightened.

On Friday, we hopped on a National Express train from Edinburgh to King's Cross in London. On the suggestion of Cordelia, we stayed at the Mad Hatter, a great (and relatively cheap) place close to their house and central to London sites and scenery. We had actually got our wires crossed a little, and originally thought we were staying above a little pub we had visited several years earlier. As it turns out, this other pub has turned a little too seedy for us - so the Mad Hatter was a good choice.

On Friday evening, we had some great Thai food at Marie's Cafe. On young Brad's recommendation, I had the Pad Thai. Alette had a suitably gluten-free green curry, while Cordelia had a red curry. Brad and Liam joined me in having Pad Thai. After dropping Brad off with Em at home we headed out to a local pub (Duke of Sussex) for a traditional London evening of drinks and karaoke. Suffice to say that Liam was the only one brave enough to sing. Twice. Good on him!

On Saturday, while Brad and Liam were birthday shopping, we visited the Borough Market with Cordelia, as highlighted in Alette's e-blog. We then went to the Museum of London and saw an exhibit, Homeless in the Capital, that was coordinated by Cordelia's workplace: Connection at St. Martins. It was a great exhibit that emphasized the personalities impacted by homelessness, including small personal items and accompanying stories. We also saw exhibits about the Great Fire of London and others covering the history for the past few centuries. Oddly, they don't seem to emphasize their invasions of Scotland as much as the Scottish. We also went to the Tate Museum and had some lunch at the refectory at the Southward Cathedral, both of which offered some refuge from the surprisingly cold and damp London winter.

On Saturday evening, we had a nice dinner together, listening to Raffi and other Canadian music (once Brad went to bed). On Sunday, after brunch, we returned on the train to Edinburgh. You can see some photos from our trip by clicking on the above photo.

Mike Rev's Up the Pithead at the Scottish Mining Museum

To celebrate the end of things being closed for the holidays, and us being cooped up in the flat without access to a nearby video store, Mike, Gen and I took a day trip down to the Scottish Mining Museum in Newtongrange.

I was very impressed with the museum. There were two floors of artifacts and interpretation covering everything from the geological history of coal to the lives of coal miners and their families. As expected, Margaret Thatcher's systematic shafting of the Scots was highlighted in several places.

The museum encompasses the buildings of the Lady Victoria Colliery. After we'd exhausted the exhibit, we went on a tour of the other buildings. Part of the tour was done by recordings, pumped in through the "ear protectors" on the helmets we had to wear. But we were also accompanied by a live tour guide who had worked as a miner at the colliery before it was closed (by Maggie Thatcher) in 1981. Really, there is no substitute for a live guide.

One of the buildings has been remade into a simulation of a mine. They have one of the machines that they used from the 1960s onwards to cut through coal seams. The machine includes a cutting wheel, a conveyor belt and 300 meters of hydraulic posts to hold up the earth above. As the machine moves forward, the roof of the tunnel is allowed to collapse behind it!!! Our guide explained that most of the time seams were only 4 to 6 feet in depth, so the posts would only be kept at that height and the men would have to work 12 hour shifts on their hands and knees. These were the conditions right up until it was closed. Earlier working conditions were of course far worse and involved children and pit ponies.

I highly recommend a visit to the museum. Much of the site dates back to the 19th century. Much of it also still working, like the pithead that Mike is controlling pictured above. It isn't connected to anything anymore, but it originally brought the cages of men and coal up from the mines 500 metres below.

One warning. Much of the tour is in semi-ruined buildings, i.e. it is the same temperature as outside, without the sun. We were very cold on our tour. Mike and Gen are still thawing out.