Piping in the rain
It didn't start out wet at Peebles Highland Games a couple of weekends ago. But they're hardy stuff, Scottish pipers. It rains - they put on their big black capes.
To begin with it was shirt-sleeves weather - as here, with St Andrew's tower in the background.
The first drops of rain appear, below, on one of the T-shirts that was being proudly worn by the members of my daughter's school pipe band. It is rather a nice litany of championship wins. The balloon - I think it's to do with practising squeezing the bag of the actual pipes.
The umbrellas come out, and the dancers get under a gazebo. Well, some of them do. I'm not sure why some are at the mercy of the elements.
The shot-putters follow with their umbrellas. Glenfiddich is a suitable sort of umbrella to have at a highland games, but Johnson & Higgins? My Google search brought up results as diverse as a brokerage firm and a cosmetic dentist in Lexington, Kentucky.
Still, not everyone is convinced by the rain. Among the lusty blowing, below, there are still some shirt-sleeves.
But eventually it's a cape-clad tramp through the streets of Peebles, and rather a nice umbrella to finish off with.
Oops - photo credits to my daughter! I'm in danger of taking my staff of roving reporters for granted.
And another oops - my photo of the shot-putters with their umbrellas somehow fell off the post. I'm getting rather frustrated with Blogger's photo manipulation at the moment. Perhaps it's my lack of technical skills - can anyone who has upgraded to the new Blogger set-up tell me if it's more amenable to things like adding photos and moving them around?
You don't half get about! Skye one day, Peebles the next!
ReplyDeleteI just looked at your profile. I like Rosemary Sutcliff too. I was nuts about her when I was young and when I had read all her books I went onto Mary Renault.
ReplyDeleteI'm a classical guitarist too! Or rather I was. Haven't really played for years. Well well.
Brave pipers indeed! Never fun when it rains on your parade, but they surely seem to have taken it in stride :o)
ReplyDeleteI would love to have been there to experience this. Looks like a lovely day even with the rain.
ReplyDeleteYou can't imagine how much I appreciate these peeks into your world, which is so very different from mine.
ReplyDeleteSo that's your umbrella post - A WONDERFUL REPORT ! And a fun one for me, given our very different climates. I don't think Provencal traditional dance or music groups have anything like a rain cape in their outfits :-) !!!
ReplyDeleteWe may all be Europeans and westerners but our cultural differences are alive and well, and I think it's a great thing. As long as our sense of greater community also exists (and I think it does).
Poor Peebles to have had a wet Games. It looks like a good day anyway, though.
ReplyDeleteI love the litany of increasingly spectacular wins on that t-shirt, ending with ...and Cowal! They're like Alexander now, aren't they, weeping because there are no new worlds left to conquer?!
I know nothing about Blogger, but hear so many gripes that my suggestion would be that you move to Wordpress. (Commission gratefully received, WP...)
I loved this. I've never been to Peebles but even without pipers and dancers could see it was Scotland. I think it's very difficult to take photographs of the rain, but you have managed to convey this all perfectly. A hardy lot, the Scots!
ReplyDeleteWe have had our share of wet highland games in the Pacific Northwest. I don't drum in our band anymore, but one World's the entire field was in rain capes like a single band. Lovely pictures. You would feel at home in one of our local games as the players, dancers and heavy eventers look interchangeable.
ReplyDeleteWish we were there.
i love Peebles. haven't been there for a long time but would like to go back. thanks for the pictures.
ReplyDeleteFoody, it helps when I can subcontract to my family to do some of the getting around for me. Rosemary Sutcliff's books were a major influence on my childhood, with lasting effects. E.g. on honeymoon in England I dragged my new husband round the dig at the Roman palace at Fishbourne, and I find Harry Potter hard going after the craft of Rosemary Sutcliff's books. Guitar - well, I'm on a bit of a hiatus just now too. Hoping to pick up again next year.
ReplyDeleteKarine, there's no point waiting for the perfect day in Scotland!
Farmchick, it looks as if the spectators were also well prepared for rain, so they all stuck it out together!
clairz, we are very exotic to each other!
Nathalie, very elegantly put about our differences within our greater community. I laughed thinking that Provencal dancers might have rainwear as part of their costumes.
dancingbeastie, reading that litany and not knowing anything about Cowal, you would expect it to be situated in the region of Jupiter. I am sorely tempted by a move to Wordpress. All I need is a bit of time to effect the move...
Christine, you're right, there's a certain Scottishness in the rain, and also the streets.
LoriAngela, I was struck in Canada by how fervently the Scottish traditions are maintained.
Journeys to Scotland, Peebles is a gem of a town, isn't it?
Well Linda, that post did it. We were going to Paris again next year but both me and Amanda looked at this post, got the 'must go back' bug, and are heading up next spring to Edinburgh.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great parade. But I don't miss the weather in that part of the world!
ReplyDeleteThey're a tough old bunch aren't they the Scots!
ReplyDeleteI don't understand much of Blogger. I'm not sure I like the new way of viewing photos. I believe it's possible to change it. I wish I could write html then I'd have more flexibility!
How very interested I was in reading and seeing the pictures about the parade in Peebles. Of course I had never heard of this Scotish town, but it does look like a place I would love to visit. I do find the bagpipers so very interesting. I think it's wonderful that they let the rain bother them hardly at all. I am wondering if the rain would not be injurious to the bagpipes themselves. You can see how little I know about such things.
ReplyDeleteLooks like quite the event. You captured some great shots here.
ReplyDeletesome interesting images..i have seen a lot about the highland games in discovery...glad to see & read a personalized account here!!
ReplyDeletehttp://sushmita-smile.blogspot.com/