Tag Archives | Honolulu

Bring Back Assassination

Some buildings opt for fierce stone beasties such as lions or dogs to guard their entrances. When we leave Honolulu’s marine-themed Wyland Hotel we trot past a pair of playful-looking cement dolphins. Other than snout-butting a beach ball at intruders, I’m not sure how effective they would be on hypothetical security detail. Dr. A and […]

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First steps

Yep, and we’re still on Hawaii. A pre-dancing breakfast is underway when we eventually clamber up to the Eugene and Harriet Ichinose Dance Palladium. I’m not sure whether Aloha wear was encouraged this morning, but since they’ve got this treasure theme and we spotted two skulls among the floral arrangements on the snacks table last […]

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This Ain’t No Disco

Yep, more about Hawaii. I rambled on a fair bit about the place. One of the things I liked best about growing up in Scotland was the fact that, other than a brief six month-interlude when my mother bribed me with Jelly Babies to attend ballet lessons, nobody made me dance in public. Towering above […]

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State fish and chips

Hawaiian escapades part the third. This Scottish-Hawaiian evening, billed as a “casual meet and greet social” promised “dancing, conversation and light refreshments” as well as the opportunity to display our aloha wear. We are soon greeted by several dancers, none of whom are Hawaiian. A couple from Brisbane who have flown over specially for this […]

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No Aloha

Another wee ramble from the new Hawaii Scottish country dancing debacle. … There’s an eerie silence as we trudge past the battered dumpsters, through the empty car park toward where our treasure map indicates that we might find the Mo’ili’ili Silent Dance Center. We turn the corner, see light streaming out of a quiet, small […]

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No Hula Class Today

A wee excerpt from the new Hawaii chapter – love to know what you think of it! A stray cat hovers at the ramp to the parkade, waiting for us to clear off so it can return to a tasty snack of road kill pigeon. The parking lot is otherwise deserted. An occasional beat-up low […]

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Souvenirs of Scottish-America

I’ve ended up with a pleasingly strange array of souvenirs from the last three years working on this book. They all bring back memories of when I got them, of course, although they’re not always great memories. There were a slew of phew-I-never-have-to-do-this-again moments along the way (see chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, […]

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