It started early
on Sunday morning, with me furiously trying to sew a rather old and tired Santa
hat, on to the top of my helmet (cycling!). Now, I would never confess to be a
dab hand at sewing and judging by the many, many Heath Robinson repairs to
socks, cycling bibs, even an old Scotland patch on my winter tights. I would
never make the televised stages of the BBC’s Sew Bee programme! Being the
thrifty Scot I am, it is in my DNA to try and save something, prior to
eventually having to toss it into the correctly coloured plastic receptacle.
Having
somehow secured Santa’s hat, I then had to in some way attach a pair of Dame
Edna Everage’s, Christmas themed, glasses to my actual cycling glasses. All
manner of tools were arranged on the breakfast table – snippers, cable ties,
scissors, rubber bands, string and so on. In the end I gave up. I simply laid
Dame Edna’s glasses over my existing pair. This of course reduced my visibility
by 50% causing excruciating neck pain, as I strained many a muscle, to twist my
head to silly angles to simply see where I was going.
Next was a
scarf of tinsel. Simple in design and yet visually stunning. Well, so I thought
until it was pointed out to me that the sliver shiny stuff was getting tangled
up in my back wheel and could, in all likelihood, toss me off the bike whilst
traversing the Tramore Road.
The reason
for all the dressing up was of course, you’ve guessed it, the annual Biscuit
Club Santa Cycle – Waterford to Tramore and back to Waterford, via the
Christmas Carousel in John Robert’s Square.
Every
variety of Christmas onesie was on display on Saturday morning. There was many
a Santa, a few Reindeers, some elves and of course lots of twinkly lights,
flashing hats and enough tinsel to wrap several trees.
The Santa
Run, sounding like an old WWII codename for a secret bombing mission, was great
fun and light-hearted. It was also amazing to see so many motorists beeping
their horns, waving and acknowledging our dressing up efforts. Maybe this is
the way to answer that age old car versus cycling rivalry – sharing the road
and being happy in our own space!
Onto the
carousel, then breakfast, a wee raffle, a prize-giving, lots of laughs, then
off home to shower and onto part two of my second last Sunday, before the Big
Man dressed in red arrives.
Into The
Book Centre to meet our three judges, Mary O’Neill, Phil Brennan and Hazel
Farrell, for the annual Waterford Business Group’s Winter Wonderbands.
You may
well have seen and heard, three wonderful bands playing across the City, in performance
areas that included; outside The Book Centre, George’s Street and Cathedral
Square. The three bands taking part this year were the De La Salle Scout Pipe
Band, City of Waterford Brass and Brass Band New Ross.
To hear
such wonderful music popping up around our City Centre, at this festive time of
year, added so much to our visitors’ experience of Winter in Waterford City. I
heard so many people saying that the bands were “brilliant”, “stunning” and
“why don’t we have this in our town?” There were people taking photographs and
videos to capture the moment in time. Waterford has come up with this concept
and we need to drive on with this winning formula, to bring it to the next
level.
There can
be no doubt that we have a City, County and region that are blessed with
talented musicians. The task of separating the three bands proved extremely
difficult for the judges. In the end the 2016 winners were announced as the City
of Waterford Brass. We do hope that the 2017 event will expand and attract
between 6 and 9 bands to the City next year.
So, my
second last shopping Sunday before Christmas started off on a road bike,
wearing festive themed Lycra and ending with sweet music.
Only in
Waterford, could such an odd combination work so well!
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