Shiny Shoes

I played in the Alexandria Christmas Walk yesterday with the MacMillan-Birtles Memorial Pipe Band. It was a chilly day marching around in my kilt. I haven't played this parade in many years. I gave it up when the city stopped paying bands to perform. The whole affair is now a fund raiser for some charity I'm unfamiliar with. I'm sure it's a worthwhile charity; but the pipe band is a non-profit organization, and we depend on paid performances to survive. There are all kinds of expenses in running a band: uniforms, instruments, practice locations, entry fees ... Why go out in the freezing cold to do a free parade to fund someone else's organization when we have our own outfit to run?

We have about fifty members in the band, but only thirteen showed up for the parade - about a 25% participation rate. The streets of Old Town were lined with spectators, and the band played well enough considering the challenges of the weather; but thirteen members does not a pipe band make. I'm not sure how many players are needed, but I know thirteen is not enough. Maybe twelve pipers piping and eleven drummers drumming would be a decent band for a parade. I don't think we need any Lords-a-Leaping, but maybe some Ladies Dancing would be nice.

It was a long day. I left home at 8:00am and returned home at 8:00pm - that's twelve hours on the road. From the parade, we went to the Fish Market, Pat Troy's, and Murphy's ... to do some more free performing. No one even offered to buy us a beer. How times have changed. In the old days, you could crawl from one pub to the next, play a few tunes, and drink for free. Alas, no more! At least I got to play my drum as loud as I wanted, and see some old friends.

When I got home, I polished my shoes. I do that after every show now. I think it's because of a piper named Derek who used to play in our band. He was a Citadel guy. Spit and polish was part of his life, and he often complained about my untidy shoes. I saw him at a funeral last year, and ever since then I've been polishing my shoes. It's a small thing, but small things add up. When I polish my shoes, I have time to think about the day - what went well, what didn't, what I would change for the next show. In this day of modern technology, there was a video of the band on the web before I even got home! That's how I know thirteen players is just not enough. When I'm done polishing my shoes, I pack them in my uniform bag. It's comforting to know they are there, cleaned and shined, and waiting for the next show.