OC Richard

[OC Richard]

Mustering as much friendly sarcasm as I can. Anyone would think that you spent your time summering in Scotland!

I hope that you all had a great time nevertheless.

We did have a great time!

The locals were in disbelief when we told them that we were thrilled to escape the California weather.

It had been dreadfully hot the weeks leading up to our trip and we rejoiced in the cool overcast Glasgow weather.

There was only a bit of rain on three days out of our 10-day stay, a small price to pay.

Actually at the Perth Games (Sunday 11 August) the sun was blazing all day and we were unprepared.

Pretty much all of our US Southwest Games are sunny and hot, and we know how to cope: we slather ourselves in sun-block and wear sunglasses and big hats.

But most of us had brought none of this for our Scotland trip. Only one guy in the band had packed his big floppy sun hat, a few had their sunglasses, and no-one had their sun-block.

So, ironically, many of us got a pretty good sunburn that day.

There were a half-dozen California bands there and the presenter at the march-past gave us credit for the warm sunny weather, which we cursed under our breath.