2013! The end of the year is upon us again. Just after writing last
year, I was sent off to the Midwest Clinic, a musical expo in Chicago, Ill,
which rates as one of the coldest places on earth, or so it seemed. The expo
itself consisted of concerts, workshops and seminars on many genres of music
from classical to jazz, old to modern. There were also instrumental seminars
and even a masterclass on musical direction and conducting by Leonard Slatkin
and another by Wynton Marsalis. I arrived home on the afternoon of Liam’s
second birthday, for which he was very excited.
In February I travelled to the UK for the naming dedication service for
Ivy (Sermons – who is my youngest Goddaughter) in Colchester. For February in
the UK it was rather mild. It was also good to catch up with some of the old
Brunel crew.
April brought the next lot of Highland Dancing examinations, which kept
us busy for two days. Lynne Hamilton came back to Bermuda, and whilst here was
able to take time out of her busy schedule to see a bit of the island. Liam
also entered a red with a yellow border Hibiscus flower into the Agricultural
Exhibition and won a first prize. He also liked looking at the many other
exhibits.
May was rather cool. Liam enjoyed the festivities at the Bermuda Day
Parade. His favourite was the Regiment Band (of course). It also brought the
arrival of the largest ship ever to dock on Bermuda, the Norwegian Breakaway,
which is the fourth largest cruise ship in the world. Onsite Engineering played
a big part in ensuring that the dock was strong enough. Our biggest project
yet, although it was mainly the structural side of the business who played the
biggest role. Liam won two firsts and a third place in his school sports day
events. Apparently he has picked that trait up from his mother.
It finally warmed up enough to go swimming in June. In fact we have
been to the beach more this year than we have in probably the last ten. We also
took Liam fishing for the first time. He caught a variety of white and yellow
grunts, a cowpolly and even a greedy little black joe.
We also held our second Highland Games. This year we had a lot of
International participation, with the “H” division band of the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police being the stars, escorting the His Excellency, the Governor
through the streets of Hamilton to the Saltus Grammar School field. The
Highland Dancing competition had its first overseas participants from the
MacKenzie School of Dance, Nova Scotia, the Schiehallion Dancers and Sandra
Bald-Jones Studio from Ontario and dancers from the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police. It was a superb event once again and we look forward to the next one in
2015.
July and August were mainly swimming, fishing and visits to the
Aquarium, on weekends at least. Liam played the bass drum at Band practice. At
the end of August I became the Pipe Major of the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band. The
jury is still out as to whether this is a good thing or not.
The Regiment Band travelled to Estes Park, Colorado at the beginning of
September to participate in the Estes Park Tattoo and Highland Games. Our show
called for me to switch from clarinet to bagpipes and back again whilst doing a
display. Needless to say, it took a few rehearsals to get it right, but in the
end, it worked very well. We drove to Denver on the Monday and overnighted
there. It was very lucky we did, as the torrential rains came that afternoon
and washed away the road which we used to leave the town and Estes Park had
about a foot of water down the main street. Then on arriving in Miami, we were
informed that due to a nearby Tropical Storm, the Bermuda Airport was closed
and we had to overnight again in that city. Later in the month, Grandpa
celebrated his 99th birthday.
Liam continues to grow up fast. It seems like every day he is learning something
new, a new word or even a song. We made him a Regiment Band uniform for his
Halloween costume, and he wore it with pride, although we think he was a little
disappointed that he didn’t get to march in the band with his daddy. We also
discovered that he is going to be a big brother in about May of next year.
November and December are traditionally the countdown months for
Christmas. This year has been no different and the time has flown by rather too
quickly. I was invited to play at the Jardine Mathieson headquarters for their
annual St. Andrews Day celebration alongside Major Steven Small, Director of
the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming. It was a bit nerve
racking, but I think I held my own quite well. He also held a master-class for
the members of the band, each getting about 30 minutes of instruction. I
certainly learned a lot, and our tuning appears to be much better as a result.
That same weekend, the Dancers held workshops with Dana Gamache from Canada in
preparation for their examinations in April next year.
Last Saturday, we held a fund-raising bake sale for the dancers and
raised quite a sum to assist with hall rentals and bursaries for the children
who cannot afford the nominal fees for lessons, examinations and competition.
The Dance Corps. is also looking to visit Canada next July and compete in a
couple of competitions there. Much to our surprise, a taxi pulled up and Santa
Claus himself came and bought some goodies! Marisa is also continuing to submit
papers for her Doctorate degree, which should be successfully concluded early
in the new year. I will then thankfully be made redundant in my role as
proofreader-in-chief.
And so another year draws to a close. Next year promises to be an
exciting one and we find out what life is like as four. I have been told by one
friend that 1+1 makes a whole lot more than 2. So it remains for me to wish you
a very Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays and for a Happy and Prosperous New
Year 2014.
Aidan, Marisa, Liam & …..
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