@Walrus Short answer, no.
I was doing well. Had an 80 years old Scotsman as an instructor. We practiced in his barn in Bucks County, PA. He made his own whiskey, which he kept in a gallon jug marked 'XXX' in the barn. I enjoyed going to practices.
I joined the Army soon after this picture, which made it tough to keep up practice, although I did for awhile. Really, just an excuse.
My instructor wanted me to join the Scots Guards. Being American, I told him I didn't think it possible, when he told me I could join the Canadian army. He said if I joined the guards, they'd send me to a year long piping college, after which you play in ceremonies. Being 6'4", he said it'd help because they liked tall freaks.
Here's where the story gets interesting. I had made a lot of mistakes in my life and thought I should be practical, which joining the Canadian Army didn’t seem practical. Too many ways it could ho wrong. Fast forward a couple years and I took a several week trip to Scotland, which found me in a pub in Portree. I made the mistake of ordering at the bar, which means everyone buys you a drink. So of course you buy the next round. That's intolerable so someone buys you a drink. You can see where this leads.
We talk and I say I'm in the Army on leave. Couple other guys were in the British army and the comparisons come out. I ask one guy what he did and he says he was in the Scots Guards but had to get out because he injured a nerve in his arm. Next question is, did you know how to play pipes before you joined? "Oh no, they sent me to a year long school in Edinburgh. It was great,i traveled all over the world, even to America."
My "holy shit, it was true, i should have listened to my instructor" moment.
I did get to go as a spectator to the Glenfiddich Piping competition at the Duke of Atholl's castle. The best single pipers in the world compete in the great hall with less than 75 people in the audience. Definitely a lifetime memory.
But no, I quit, and quitters never play pipes.
This is all i have left, besides memories. That's the instructor's image. He was a bad-ass
