The Summer of '93

Meeting the parents - again!

We drove back to the hotel.

We were in the hotel room and I had to leave early so I left Ali in bed and drove to work. When I came back he was embarrassed. The B&B owner had come in to clean the room and there was Ali, bollocks dangling over the edge of the bed, just out of the shower, with nothing to cover his modesty. "It happens all the time", she said. I had gone to apologise.

Life was anything but dull with Ali. He had an exuberance about him. He made me laugh out loud and we made the most of our valuable and snatched time together.

It was a married couple who owned the B&B They had a young baby and they were quite bohemian looking. We went back there again and again, as it was close to town, being on Gilmore Place, which was full of B&Bs.

The insurance Company got back in touch with my Company, who were mediating the insurance claim on my work car. I had to write a narrative as to what had happened, draw position diagrams in the insurance pamphlet, and detail times, and complete all the boxes of the form. Once that was submitted the next problem was the woman was driving without insurance. I learnt a very valuable lesson from this situation. Months passed and finally I was advised that I would have to testify in court against her. I turned up to find from the lawyer that she was a no show. It turned out she was also unemployed. The court said they would either charge her £1.40 a week because she was on Government benefits, and that was all they could recoup. If the shoe had been on the other foot, I would have had a criminal record. She had no money so the court decided there was no benefit in pursuing her, despite her crimes.

I had to get about in a Rover until my car was restored but it took the shine off my lovely new car. When it was returned it still had its lovely new smell and I couldn't see the repair line. The light worked too!

I had spoken to Ali's parents on the phone but I was going to meet them today. I drove him through to Glasgow green. People all over the world flock to the World championships. I had realised that my life had moved from visiting Quig at the weekend to chauffeuring Ali to pipe band competitions. Whilst it was great to see new places in Scotland and was a very different life to what I had known up until now, it wasn't really representative as to about what I liked to do, with my precious free time. Public houses and pipe bands were not what I was passionate about but, for now,  I went with the flow. At least there was some retail therapy and some food to boot!

His parents came over to greet us. His Father smiled a friendly smile. Ali had had his Father's eyes passed down to him. Their eyes had a similar lively expression. He had a fifties, salt and pepper coloured hair cut and he was built the same as Ali. In terms of dress, Ali's Father looked the part with a hat to match his Scottish jacket, hunting dress kilt, hose and brogues. He was stomping about like he owned the place with his umbrella.  His wife, who was introduced to me was very reserved. There were no smiles. She had an impish face, which was framed with closely cropped hair at the back, almost boyish, but bleached a brassy blonde. Her upturned nose had specs perched low and she was conservatively dressed with a skirt and blouse covered over with a oilskin raincoat of dark, metallic green. They were accompanied by a very sweet boy, Ali's brother, who was nine and was dressed in miniature but in black, like his Dad. He had a look of Ali but his hair was in a crew cut and brown.

Ali promptly left me in their care. Awkward!

"So do you still think you've sold me a watch with no hands?" I joked with his Father.

He gave out a chuckle, "With my son? Very much so!"

I walked with them.  "So," I asked, "what is the format for today?"

"Well," Ali's Father said, with an authoritative tone, "throughout the year bands take part across Scotland, in competitions. Each band plays and competes but Grade 1 is the prestigious grade." He had a really thick accent and it was hard to understand him at times.  The interest wasn't really mine either,  so I really had to hang onto every word and it wasn't working. Don't get me wrong, I love music, and also liked to watch Ali practising his drum, but to be part of a pipe band held no interest with me.