Tag: helensburgh

The third time is the charm

Sunday February 5th 2012

For the last couple of years, each time the anniversary of Robert Burns’ birthday rolls around in the last week of January, I’ve been committing to memory the eight verses of his Address to the Haggis to perform the duty on a Burns Evening. On my first attempt at the Rosslea Hall Hotel, back in 2010, I thought my delivery was fairly good considering I’d only learned the poem in the four weeks previous. However, the fact I missed a line out really bugged me and I was determined to do it perfectly the next chance I got.

Which is why, when I did the Address to the Haggis at Colgrain Bowling Club in 2011, I was mad with myself for grinding to a halt after just two verses because I thought I’d messed up. After being invited to do it again this year I was determined that I’d nail it, and tried to put the memory of last year’s screw up behind me. If Crazy Uncle John can reel off 14-odd verse epic’s from Burns’ repertoire with only a couple of fluffed lines, then surely I was capable of the flawless delivery of just eight verses?

burns night, crazy uncle john, helensburgh, postaweek

Great chieftain o’ the puddin-race!

Sunday February 13th 2011

Last night marked my second go at addressing the haggis at a local Burns Supper. I’d been called upon by Crazy Uncle John a few weeks back to perform the duty again, after he’d been asked to recite a couple of poems at the Colgrain Bowling Club.

The 12th of February is a little bit late for a Burns Supper, but it did give me few weeks to brush up. I was actually surprised that it only took me an hour or so of going through the poem in my head before I could do it from memory again. Considering it had been a year since I really thought about it I can only marvel at the capacity of the human brain for deep learning through repetition!

Even so, I printed the words out and kept them under my monitor on my desk at work, just to make sure I wasn’t being cavalier in my approach. I did, after all, miss a line out when I addressed the haggis at the Rosslea Hall Hotel last year, so I was mindful that I couldn’t practice enough.

address to a haggis, burns, crazy uncle john, helensburgh, postaweek

Good horse sense

Saturday July 24th 2010

Since I posted about the state of the old rocking horse in Hermitage Park, there’s been a lot of campaigning by locals to get the park brought up to standard. The council, it seemed, were embarrassed into taking action and gradual improvements have been made over the last couple of months.

The vandalised “softcrete” beneath the swings has now been replaced, all of the apparatus has had a lick of paint, and a new child-containing fence has been placed around the perimeter of the park.

The fence around the horse came down, but he was still in a bad state the last time we visited. So I was surprised and delighted to see he’d been restored to his former glory when Elisha and I stopped off this afternoon as part of our Swing Park Challenge. The horse now has striking red and black paint and his side rails have been replaced – it really is a fantastic job and I’m really happy the effort has been put in, rather than scrapping him.

The Swing Park Challenge – an attempt to visit and play on every piece of apparatus in all of the local parks in less than 90 minutes – did highlight the disparity between all of them. Kidston Park has just a set of swings and an ancient spider climbing frame, which is in much need of some paint. Meanwhile, the park at Rhu is filled with modern equipment, and the kids there told us that there’s more on the way.

Still, I’m glad to see that Hermitage Park is now a fit place to take my daughter again – hopefully there’ll be enough care and attention given that it’ll still be in good condition when I take my future son there.

helensburgh, parks