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Tunes of Glory
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The Parade
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2.00pm Suddenly the side street barriers dropped - The Scottish Power band swung out and turned the wrong way down 6th Avenue! For a moment the crowd wondered who had got it wrong. But they were only off for a photo call next to the grandstand tour buses and then they swung around. Then the tour buses headed up the avenue for Central Park South where they formed a grandstand or into the park to mark the finish.
And then the bands came on - Scottish Power, The New York Police Department, The New York Fire Department, The New York and New Jersey Port Authority and wave after wave of first class bands. I'm sure there were some bum notes on the day but believe me - far more pipers rose to the occasion than I heard fall from it - and by a long way! The wisdom of limited sets of very standard standards paid off. Nearly everyone knew their pieces and for the crowd - they knew the pieces too - important to get the impact with parade cynical New Yorkers!
I have a tremendous sympathy for Sir Sean Connery - a true Scottish Patriot - there to raise profile for Scotland - to a man I heard New Yorkers shout - "There's James Bond!" as they recognized him at the head of the parade. Still typecast after all these years. Still I never heard anyone shout "There's Mayor Bloomberg". Sorry Mayor - I don't think the golf outfit helped on the day - I didn't know you had marched till I read the papers the next day. Also I haven't lived in Scotland since the formation of the Scottish Executive so I'm afraid I also didn't recognize the First Minister and some of the MSP's but their silver batons of office looked cute when I figured it out.
But every Scot I was near recognized Gavin Hastings the Scottish Cap! Who was to know (till afterwards) that as the pipers marched - the Scots were filling the bars in Cardiff celebrating their 27-22 upset of Wales at Cardiff Arms Park that morning and that Bill McClaren had commentated on his last match before retiring and the the Scots team had done him proud (6 Nations rugby for those who are wondering what this paragraph is about!).
In order to not completely gridlock New York the police were still juggling cross walk traffic between the bands. I know there has been some criticism of this but believe me - there is a parade of some sort nearly EVERY weekend in New York and this is completely normal. No one should be insulted by it. It also gave me a moment to cross the street to get pictures from the other side. Fortuitous because at the appropriate moment I was standing at a gap when the St Andrews Society of New York State marched by behind their patron band the New York State Courts Pipes and Drums. I couldn't resist it and slipped through the barrier and mingled with the group. I marched over to the important looking fella and thickened my remaining Scots accent (lived here too long!) and said "Do you mind if an impostor joins you?". Thank you to Malcolm Keers who stuck out his hand and said "Sure! - Better make you a member". Cards were exchanged and I sent off my membership subs when I got home.
It was great! No argument. The crowd were loving it and as we broke out at the top of 6th Avenue at the park, the sun shone on us all and everything that was supposed to glitter - glittered. The crowds cheered and we swung our kilts and tried to figure which band to march to - our lead at the front or the one behind us who we could hear better in the following wind. It didn't really matter and we swung into the park in fine style.
Sean Connery and the other dignitaries were lining the barriers cheering us in and everyone felt great. My wife, daughter and I had been loosely following the parade and had agreed that we would keep in touch by cell phone if we got split up. My wife missed my move and I had the easiest time getting up 6th Avenue to the park while she battled through the crowds. I think I have been forgiven! In due course we got to the end and fell out to the sides. Bands followed us in - halted at the end - played their last set and also fell out. Pipe Majors formed a line to the side and saluted their fellow PM's as the arrived at the finish and everyone reminisced about how good it had been.
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