It was a right foggy night last night as Jim Shields (RBWF Junior VP) and I tried to pick our way through Mid – and East Lothian. Jim had enlisted my help for one of the Newton Lads wee club nights, only to discover that the East Lothian Clubs (The Airts, Mystic Tie, Prestonpans & Tranent 25 Clubs, I think) had a joint smoker scheduled for the same night. Unperturbed, we decided to do both – a “Burns Crawl”, if you like!
At Danderhall, where the Newton Lads pitch up, Jim and I decided to try a new format. Jim played Parky in a wee vignette where he was interviewing me as Burns about my time in Edinburgh. It was quite a refreshing experience. Entirely unrehearsed, it meant that it came across to the guys very naturally and also made me think about aspects of Burns’ life tangentially. After the interview, I regaled the company with Lines on Dining with Lord Daer, as it was a subject that had come up in the interview. Jim shared one or two songs, too.
Bit of a scary drive over to Port Seton followed. Jim was virtually driving by touch at one stage, but we made it there in one piece. The soiree was already in full swing, and it was great to meet up with Billy Horne again. Billy gave an excellent original piece, My Granda’s First Funeral and also the first Epistle to Davey, whilst I performed the Epistle to W**** S****, Ochiltree and, to finish the night, a song: Dark Lochnagar.
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