Thursday June 24 2010 – Airplane Journal, Glasgow to Halifax

It was an early morning to rise at 4:30am in Glasgow to catch the BMI flight to Heathrow and transfer with a duty free bottle of Scotch and crystal goblets to an Air Canada flight direct to Halifax (via the Maple Leaf Lounge of course!). I have been in the UK since Monday. The night before was Sunday – which was also Father’s Day.

Rewind 4 days earlier, we were winning the gold at Banff , had a great after party, slept for 3 hours and flew back East across the whole country – from Rockies to Haligonia. When I arrived in Halifax it was quite late at night, is my baby was already asleep when I got home. Jessica and I spend 30 minutes awake with each other then crashed hard. The next morning I said goodbye to my beautiful family again and drove to Fredericton for a New Brunswick Arts Council board meeting Friday night and Saturday morning.

I left the Saturday meeting early because I had to drive to Saint John the next day to perform the duties of wedding MC at my dear friends Chrissy and Jake’s wedding. That was a grand ole party. A lot of my old school friends were there which ended up being a fun reunion dance party as the band Big Fish cranked out the classics! Sunday I drove back to Halifax to spend 1 hour with Jessica (Kaiya was asleep) then drove back to the airport for the red eye flight to Heathrow. None of my Aeroplan upgrade certificates worked to upgrade me to the glorious blue pods of business class…oh the sweet sweet pods. I find that the upgrade certificates never actually work; it’s just a scam to get suckahs like me to keep flying Air Canada. Oh alas.

The flight was alright, I slept the whole way really. Arrived at Heathrow very late and had 2 minutes to spare to catch the train to Scotland at Paddington Station from the Heathrow Express…dang, tight spots.

The train ride took me past some of the nicest window views ever of the British country side and eventually the ragged and swelling coastline of Scotland.

I ended up in Stirling and checked in to the best little Inn South of the River Spey! (see my 2006 blog to dig what Inn to check out next time you are in Scotch Whiskey Heaven North of Aberdeen!).

I completely recommend this Inn if you are in the area, it is called the Auchyle Stirling and is operated by Mandi and Tom Dick, and their dog Harry…no kidding, Mandi, Tom Dick and Harry. How perfect!

The Auchyle is located right on the edge of the infamous and ignored quarter of Stirling; Raploch. Raploch has had a reputation that spans hundred of years of being kind of a sketchy spot. Others in Stirling just don’t go there apparently. Interestingly enough I thought the place was quite nice actually, neat and tidy, modest homes, community housing…and anywhere you look up you will either see the Stirling Castle

or the William Wallace Monument,

both great climbs! The hospitality that Mandi and Tom gave me, and the warmth and authenticity of the community is unparalleled.

I shot footage for our Sistema documentary (CBC) at Sistema Scotland’s “Big Noise” for the day

after enjoying some solid shwallys with Mandi and an extensive tour from the Stirling Bridge (go watch Braveheart and you will be on the same page), the castle and other battlegrounds…Scotland first hand.

Sistema Scotland is true proof that other countries can adopt Venezuela’s El Sistema and make radical social change with it while creating world-shaking classical music professionals. Sistema Scotland has only been open for a year longer than our Sistema in New Brunswick , so it was a great experience for me as a board member of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and Sistema to see where we could be in another 12 months!

I filmed some solid footage, the kids were great, the Big Noise was helpful and I had a great day only to be followed by a Scottish steak dinner up at the castle, some more Highland Park shwolly then a short sleep before hitting the train to Glasgow to pop back on a flight to go home from the quickest overseas trip of my history. Glasgow’s a fine city, jazz fest was going down, as was the World Cup. Britain won and I witnessed a frenzie of happy Brits at the pub I was sipping at.

Scotland is a magical land. If you end up in Scotland climb the Wallace Monument, check out the Stirling Castle, the Bridge where Wallace defeated the English, and of course, Big Noise in the heart of a broken but healing community – Raploch.

‘Big Noise at Stirling Bridge,’ June 23, 2010 – If you ever watched the movie, Brave Heart, you will remember Mel Gibson playing the heroic role of William Wallace, the great Scottish freedom fighter. Against all odds, on Sept. 11, 1297, William led his small Scottish army to defeat the powerful British Army at the battle of Stirling Bridge. I took this photo of the bridge. I imagined what it would be like to stand in the same place 813 years ago. I would have witnessed a turning point in the Scottish history. I am in Stirling, Scotland, filming in a small, less-than-privileged neighbourhood called Raploch for a documentary. For the last year I have been filming the progress of Sistema New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra’s revolutionary social and classical music program. The daily afterschool music program is based on the Venezuelan program El Sistema. New Brunswick is not the only area that has officially adopted the Sistema revolution. Stirling, Scotland – also known as Big Noise – has been creating little maestros for three years now. Yesterday was the end of the school year for the kids at Big Noise, so it was a perfect time to grab footage for the documentary. The parallel between William Wallace’s fight against all odds at Stirling Bridge, and Sistema’s fight to give disadvantaged kids a chance to shine is an apt comparison. El Sistema, Big Noise and Sistema New Brunswick are small, but tactical warriors making Big Noise around the world to fight against the face of poverty.