hursday:
With the bus set to roll at 9am and everyone seemingly on time things looked ominously good for Deeside’s trip to Belgium. However, this was short lived as at 8:45 one member of the band realised they had forgotten trousers and decided to Michael Schumacher it back across town during morning rush hour, while all the time insisting we were two minutes away.

Twenty five minutes later the bus did start to roll, but before we could it became apparent that it would have to do a three-point turn on a very narrow road with a very steep grass banking. While the back of the bus was very much doing an Italian Job over the banking, and going no where fast 2 police men started to approach the bus, this was all we needed, ½ an hour late and about to be nicked!! Luckily it seemed the police men were just hungry as they duly ignored the bus and went to the burger van next to us.

At 9:35 the bus finally pulled away, destination Newcastle and the boat to Amsterdam. After the initial visit to the cabins, it was easy to draw a similarity between bottom deck of the Titanic and Boot camp. However, above sea level the beer was cold and reasonably priced, so off to the club we went to enjoy what would be a 16 hour sea voyage.

Friday:
After a couple of hours drive the following morning (this was extended due to heavy road works), we arrived at Centre Parcs to be greeted by a loony with Green Hair who had obviously been hired by the park to scare the kiddies. The park itself seemed nice and peaceful, but this was about to change as Deeside called a time to have a practice. However, this was short lived as the rain came on just as we were hitting the Jigs. It was therefore decided to leave the practice until the next day at the competition. This left the rest of the night to enjoy the pool and other facilities, such as Robert’s “short cut” which actually turned a 5 minute walk into 27 minute one!!

Saturday:
The day of the competition started out well with absolutely perfect conditions for playing instruments. Deeside left the for the park about 9:30 and arrived around about 11:45. After getting accustomed to the layout of the park, and buying several strips of ‘consumables tickets’ the band started to long walk over from the bus to the tuning area with the instruments. Even this caused problems for several members as they were given a stern talking to for trying to enter the VIP only entrance, to which the Scando feisty one replied “listen here pal we are VIPs, if it wisnae for us you wouldna have any of this!” However, being the nice people we are we did take the long way round to the tuning area.

Tuning went well with members from other bands listening on and commenting on our sound, the weather too was holding up well. The band did however, miss the presence of Jakey Pete who always does a superb job of looking after drums and equipment. Then with what seemed in a blink of an eye we were marching to the line for the last time in the 2003 season.

The performance went well, with few complaints about personal performances. It was only after the competition that the band could really see what a Belgian competition had to offer against Scottish ones:

Belgium	Scotland
Comfy Chairs and Tables in beer tent	Grass stained bum mark on kilt from sitting in beer tent
Beer glasses made of glass	Beer glasses made of easy squeezy plastic
Fantastic Icecream and food	Fine chips and curry
½ Pints	Pints
90% head, 10% beer	90% beer 10% head

So although a close run thing I do think it is fair to say that Scotland has to win it with the head to beer ratio!! (Besides something didnt feel right about coming home with a completely clean kilt!)

As most bands will agree Mass Bands by tradition is a lot of standing about and the reading of the results, in Belgium this was no different. However, with the nice weather, it was quite pleasant. It is common knowledge that at the world championships when the results are announced they cover the top 7 bands. However, it seems the European championships only announce the top 6 bands. This was much to our dismay when we received our sheets and we were placed 7th! (That were a proper Bo' result all the same!!!) This made the rest of the evening celebrating at the Centre Parcs bar all the better.

Sunday
The decision was made early on that Deeside would not compete in the local competition on the Sunday for reasons due to instruments and relaxation. Sunday was therefore used by different people to do different things. Most members of the band spent the morning in the swimming pool trying to find teh fastest way down the flumes (it turns out backwards and upside down is fastest) followed by some lunch. In the afternoon some watched the Grand Prix while others held their own Grand Prix on hired pedalos, and as long as you didn’t blink would could catch a glimpse of them hurtling by. I havent seen too many men afraid in of being in a fast moving vehicle before but after seeing Kevin's face after he stepped off the pedalo that Jane had been attempting to steer I think he will remain indoors when she takes her driving test!! Other members of the band decided it would be a laugh to abseil down a wall, so they happily went to get tickets, little did they know they first had to get up the said wall without the aid of a lift or ladder! after scaling 2 and 1/2 walls each it was time to call it a day and back to the pool we went. The band then spent the last night again at the bar with a few games of bowling and pool.

Monday
The band left Centre Parcs at 9am on Monday morning and headed for Amsterdam. It was decided that Amsterdam is a lovely city with many wonderful 'sights' and the window shopping is fantastic!. After a few hours in Amsterdam we set off for the ferry back to Newcastle. The ferry on the way back was a world apart from the one over, nice cabins with on suite washrooms and very comfortable living conditions. However, once again the evening was spent in the bar/club sampling some of the fine beer (all with proper heads!!!) by approximately 5:30 am on the Tuesday every one had finally made it to bed only to be woken up with a bing bong to announce the arrival in Newcastle (we had arrived an hour early due to being on GMT time again) so sleep was not abundant for all members of the band!

Tuesday
The drive home went without hiccup and made it home around 4pm. However, some of the band members used the trip home to engineer clever ways to get their special 'suvoneirs' home in the car.

All in all it was a superb trip and a great result for the band. And in the immortal words of Bobby and Jobby - Bo'Selecta! and roll on next season