The reason why I was marching down the street to Waltzing Matilda
in the first place is because, as for I have been for nearly 10 years now, I
was playing as part of a pipe band in a local Anzac Day street march. One thing
that I have never mentioned on this blog is the fact that I play the bagpipes…
and that I absolutely love it. In fact, I love it more than I love food or
anything to do with it. Yes, I love it that
much.
Due to circumstance and crazy happenings in various parts of my
life, I unfortunately haven’t been playing my pipes as much as I would like. In
fact, I nearly gave up at one stage last year. Yikes. Even the thought of doing
so terrifies me now. When I play pipes, it just feels right. It feels like this
is what I’m supposed to be doing. Today was the first time in a long while that
I made an appearance with the band and yes, it felt good.
Apart from the thrill of neatly and musically executing a tune,
the main thing that I’m addicted to is the people. The pipe band scene is an
amazing place and is one that is filled with the most bizarre assortment of
characters you could ever hope for. From teachers to tradies, aeronautical
engineers to doctors, each person you meet is remarkably different and full of
life (not to mention beer – particularly at the end of a long, hot day on the
competition field). Some of them are total misfits and, like most social
misfits, most people tend to ignore those. However, there is nothing better
than finding yourself in a group where the balance is just right. And I’ve
found that with the current band I’m in. I love them. All. To absolute bits.
At this point in time, I would probably be slightly embarrassed if
any of them saw this post but I’m sure there will come a day when it all ends
up in the open. Two members of the band executive (my pipe major and honourable
president) make my ‘all time favourite people’ list which is – trust me –
extremely limited in length. They are
just such amazing people and the group they lead is even more so. There just
seems to be a certain camaraderie that exits in pipe bands that doesn’t exist
in other institutions. It’s also one of those ‘you have to experience’ feelings
I think. Nothing I can really explain.
I should probably stop ranting now and go back to my structural
biochemistry study. Sigh… after a great day with great people, it’s hard to
concentrate on such dry material. I
don’t even have a new recipe to post in order to make it more bearable :-(
On the other hand, there is a quite exciting bee-and-honey-related
event coming up in my household… stay tuned….
- Matilda
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