Sunday, June 30, 2002
Location: Wellington Church, Glasgow
Weather: Grey and rainy

We're about to start a church service in Glasgow, at a large downtown Presbyterian church whose general size and layout is similar to Trinity St. Paul's on Bloor Street in Toronto. We're sitting in the upper gallery to the right of the pulpit, so that the congregation is mostly below and to our left. There aren't that many here yet, but we brought our own group of supporters to pad out the numbers -- spouses and parents -- so it looks respectable. Since the World Cup final match starts in a couple of minutes it's amazing anyone is here at all!

We had a great day yesterday in Ayr, though I felt a bit groggy all day since I couldn't sleep at all the night before. I'm rooming with Jay Lambie, who snores. Fortunately I didn't have to operate any heavy machinery. In the morning we drove to Culzean Castle, which I had visited in 1997 but had forgotten about -- a big Edwardian pile, quite beautiful and luxuriously appointed. After our tour of the main building we had a quick lunch at a small cafe on the grounds.

[Sing Joyfully, Hymn "Praise to the Lord"]

After lunch, Susan, Craig, Anne, Mary and I walked around the castle and made our way down past a battery of old naval cannons to the rocky shoreline below the castle. We picked our way over cockle-encrusted rocks, strewn with seaweed, to a cave under the castle proper. The mouth of the cave was sealed with an ancient fortification that seemingly connected up to the castle above -- the secret back door! Unfortunately it was closed off with a sturdy looking barred door, so we weren't able to enter. Instead we turned back and made our way south, up a different staircase to the paths running through the castle grounds. We had a very pleasant stroll along the
[Hymn "All are Welcome"]
top of the cliffs, passing an old gunpowder storage shed, before turning back and heading to the coach again.

On the way back to Ayr we stopped for an hour at the Robbie Burns cottage, but I stayed in the bus to try and catch a quick nap.

Back in Ayr, we hit the pool again and then had a rehearsal
[Rise Up My Love]
in a room in the basement of the hotel. At 6:30 we headed to a wonderful pub in town, where I had a lamb burger with mint
[Hymn: "As Many Stones"]
sauce!

From there, Anne, Susan and I headed out on a hike. On Friday we'd seen a ruined fort on a cliff south of the beath. This was our goal. We walked along a paved pedestrian train and over a bridge, past a group of men operating a massive remote-controlled model warship with a buzzing engine.

At the top of the hill we cut through a farmer's field (barley) and through a gap in the fence to the fort. From there, we headed back to the hotel via the beach. With the end of the day the sun was breaking through the clouds and shining off the sea over the distant islands.

Back at the hotel, we had a game of Scrabble before bed. Susan got a seven letter word ("bruising") and cleaned up. I did extremely badly, and ended the game with 23 points left in my rack, including the X and the Z.

Despite the exercise and my fatigue, I once again had problems getting to sleep. I did get a few hours in the end, but also had a lot of time to listen to Jay rumble.

[Gloria Deo Per Immensa Saecula]
posted by Tom at 11:30 AM | link | (0) comments

Friday, June 28, 2002
Location: Ramada Hotel, Ayr
Weather: Broken cloud, cool and humid, windy

A very long two days of travel. Yesterday I spent the day finishing off the countless pre-trip tasks and packing the bags. Since I have few days were I'll be without transport this trip, I'm going back to using the big old Samsonite suitcase instead of the travel pack I took to the Med in March. This seems very excessive, but then I have to travel with two sets of concert dress.

The trip over was uneventful. Mary Gilmeister and I split a cab to the airport, where we took advantage of my Aeroplan status to check in at the Executive desk and wait in the Maple Leaf lounge. This got me in trouble with our tour guide, Michael Tansley, when we showed up (eventually) at the gate: he'd been worried we would miss the flight.

On the flight over I tried to zone out quickly. I put my blindfold on right away and tried to get some sleep. No luck, of course. I sat, eyes closed, all night.

This morning we got picked up by a luxury coach at Glasgow airport. We had a delay, as Erika's luggage got lost in transit. It hasn't shown up yet, and we're still hoping it arrives tomorrow.

The first stop was Glasgow Cathedral, known as St. Mungo's by the locals for the patron saint of Glasgow whose remains are apparently buried under the church. I'd actually seen the cathedral the last time I was in Scotland, but this time we had an aged tour local tour guide to give us some of the stories of St. Mungo. We sang "If Ye Love Me" in the quire, but I for one didn't especially note the acoustic, being rather dazed.

After that, we headed downtown for lunch. Anne, Karen, Trish and I walked down to the Granery, a restaurant by the river, where we had a delicious (though not cheap) lunch, including very nice salads.

We split up and spent a little time walking around the downtown shops before picking up the bus again and driving to Ayr, a pleasant seaside town. There, we checked into the hotel and through about what to do before dinner. Eventually Craig, Susan and I headed down to the hotel's pool for a refreshing swim and a soak in the steam room.

After a decent group meal in the hotel restaurant, we went for a nice walk down to the coast and along the beach. The sun peeked through the clouds, as it slowly sank to a late night sunset. The wind was cold and I was very glad to have my new Goretex jacket.
posted by Tom at 11:55 PM | link | (0) comments

Oops. One big piece of news I forgot to report... For those who know Kelly Baxter Golding, you'll be pleased to hear that she and Paul are expecting a child in January. Get in touch and pass on your best wishes!
posted by Tom at 3:01 PM | link | (0) comments

Sorry, no updates for a while. Not much to report. I've been in heavy rehearsal mode for Consort Caritatis' performances in Kitchener (tonight) and Toronto (Saturday), which has eaten up a lot of evenings. Other than that, with the weather poor until this week (it's now gorgeous) I spent a lot of time indoors on the computer.

Only a week to go before I head out again: Scotland, England, Russia, Estonia, Finland. I got my Russian visa in the mail today. Now I can believe I'm going... After hearing horror stories from others in the choir who had their applications returned for apparently flimsy reasons I'm very pleased they got mine back to me without hassles. Not cheap, though: for three business day processing I had to pay $180!
posted by Tom at 2:54 PM | link | (0) comments

Wow, check out this sterling entry that appeared on my guest book today. I've attracted my first crackpot! Whoohoo!
posted by Tom at 5:19 PM | link | (0) comments