my daughter forwarded this...

[auld argonian]

...and how could I resist forwarding it to you:

Donald MacDonald from the Isle of Mann went to study at an English
university and was living in the hall of residence with all the other
students there.
After he had been there a month, his mother came to visit him.
"And how do you find the English students, Donald?" she asked.
"Mother," he replied, "they're such terrible, noisy people. The one on
that side keeps banging his head on the wall and won't stop. The one on
the other side screams and screams all night."
"Oh Donald! How do you manage to put up with these awful noisy English
neighbors?"
"Mother, I do nothing. I just ignore them. I just stay here quietly,
playing my bagpipes."



Best

AA

[sporranlegionaire]

It had to be said.
We used to have a lodger many, many, many years ago who played the pipes - but not in the house. He used his chanter in his bedroom.
Maybe that's where it all started for me. I've yet to tackle bagpipes, and if such an occasion arises, I shall certainly feel for the neighbours too. But carry on anyway.

[BruceK]

I'm attempting to learn the chanter. It's scaring the living beejeesus out of the cats let me tell you! Also making me very grateful that I gave up smoking many years ago...

[GlassMan]

Now that's hilarious! I love it!

[Mumbles]

HAHAHA! Funniest thing Ive heard all day

[turpin]

It has been said that bagpipes are the missing link between noise and music.

[auld argonian]

Actually, I live in the city but in a part that's almost suburban...which, for Chicago, means that instead of three feet between each house there's more like twenty or twenty-five feet distance between you and your neighbor. There used to be a fella who played the pipes living on the next block (in fact, his kids used to cat-sit for us when we went on vacation)...he's in a band called "Three Men In Kilts" http://threemeninkilts.com/index.cfm. Anyway, Mr. Hannigan moved to a home elsewhere in the neighborhood and we lost our "bagpipe moments"....or so we thought. Last week, I was out on the back porch and it was a rare quiet moment (nobody was running a lawnmower or chainsaw) and I heard, ever so faintly, the sound of the pipes drifting in from somewhere over on the next block. Don't know who the guilty party is but I'm sure that I'll find out eventually.

Best

AA

[obuchiteck]

Are Pipes hard to play?

[beloitpiper]

Are Pipes hard to play?

At first they are, but with practice they are a pure joy! Just like any instrument, they take hard work and dicipline.

You know, it is said that the Irish introduced the Scots to the bagpipes a thousand years ago...and the Scots still don't get the joke!