Missed Opportunity

Some years ago I spent some time in Aberdeen. I hadn’t particularly chosen to go there, I didn’t enjoy it at all, and I left as soon as I could. Considering my recent enthusiasm for all things Scottish (knitting as well as the music, and I’ve always been fond of the national drink) that year now feels like a wasted opportunity. 

I don’t recall coming across any piping, but I do know that asked for, and was refused, the opportunity to learn Gaelic. I was told that it would be no use to me. I’m not keen on the idea that learning of any kind should have a direct practical application in order for it to have value, and it’s particularly galling considering that the linguistics I studied instead turned out to have no bearing on my life or any of my interests either then or now. It’s not even the kind of thing that occasionally helps with the answers to clues in general knowledge crosswords.

But I do wish I had learned Gaelic. It would have tied in with my (now mostly lapsed) interest in folklore and folk tales, and it would certainly tie in with the traditional music, especially in its links to pibroch, which is something I’d definitely like to learn more about. Mind you, if I start reading up on piping and Gaelic song (and all the other aspects of Scottish culture that interest me) I'd have even less time for piping...