Memorable

August 10, 2009 on 1:21 am by Michael Grey | In Stories | Comments Off on Memorable

I write this while standing outside the entrance doors at Paris’ CDG airport; a cloud of smoke enveloping me as a dozen smokers take their last, desperate pre-flight drags. The flight home awaits but not before a few moments of quiet(ish) reflection.

How was the trip? Unforgetable. For all the sometimes frustrating moments of faulty logistics, le grand voyage à Lorient was just what the doctor ordered – for me, by way of vacation, and, I think, for the band, by way of team-building and professional development.

They say that people when travelling together learn the most about each other. Well, I think someone said that. Anyway, it’s true that we get to connect with people on a deeper letter while bunking and breaking bread together. A band is no different from any other team: members need to have a civil personal connection – at the very least – before having a chance at making great music together. So, for the “team-building” alone (I catch myself writing corporatese here!), the Breton adventure was tops.

It’s funny how the small things are often the most memorable. Just as a late bus can sometimes trigger disproportionate crabbiness (we learned a lot about “late buses” on this trip), an impromptu tune well-played (or poorly played, for that matter!) in the street, an exchange of a sovennir (as, for example, many of the guys did in swapping ties with Bagad Breig – much to the consternation of Jack Wield, our tremendous band manager), the little things resonated with me more than the big stuff.

In the unforgetable memeory bucket the regular, and silly, 4 am queues for kebab avec sauce chaud trumps Highland Cathedral at “nuits magique”.

Anyway, a great trip. Eyes opened wider, and all of us better for it.

I’m off for duty-free.

M.