I feel like a kid today, because here in Cardiff we are having a SNOW DAY! Of course, there is absolutely no snow to be seen in Cardiff L, but elsewhere in Britain, the nation has been pounded by a wintery onslaught of as much as THREE INCHES of the substance they call “The White Death.”

There’s really nothing better than a Snow Day- we love them as kids because of the freedom from school, but as adults, it’s the rare thing to suddenly find that you are free, as opposed to finding that you AREN”T, which seems to be my usual case.

Lest you think I’m being a bit tough on the United Kingdom of New Scandinavia, let me say two good things about the great nation in which I’ve made my new home. First- I FINALLY have my permanent settlement visa. To all my friends who have made the mistake of asking how my visa progress was going, I apologize- it’s all done now!!!!!

Second, Suzanne met and had a lovely and surprisingly chilled out conversation with Charlie, the Big C, his Priciness, the heir with the hair, the most famous ex-husband in history after the BBC NOW concert on Friday. How cool is that. It’s actually the second time they’ve met- he’s a very sweet guy as far as anyone who has met him can tell. I don’t know why the media are always such bastards to him.

Here are a few snaps of the new Hoddinott Hall. You can hear the orchestra breaking in the space on your BBC I Player for the next few days here.

And here are some snaps of the new space, which the orchestra badly needed and richly deserved! I’m looking forward to my first session in there.

For my colleagues in the Wilmslow Symphony who’ve epxressed complete bafflement at the meaning of the word “Buckaroo…” (Some of the guesses were VERY funny and amazingly wrong).

Here is the definition from Wiktionary-

Buckaroo:

Etymology

Derived from Spanish vaquero (“‘cowboy’”).
Several examples of the heels on buckaroo-style cowboy boots.

Alternative spellings

• buckeroo
  

Noun

buckaroo (plural buckaroos)

1. A cowboy.
   
2. A working cowboy who generally does not rodeo.
   
3. One who sports a distinctive buckaroo style of cowboy clothing, boots, and heritage.
   

Many cowboy poets have a buckaroo look and feel about them.

4. A style of cowboy boot with a high and uniquely tapered heel.
   
5. A reckless, headstrong person.
   

Don’t run in looking for a fight like some kind of buckaroo.

6. (slang) A dollar (variation of buck).
   

That’ll be twenty buckaroos, buddy.
Of course, the Oregon East Symphony, Best Damn Redneck Orchestra on Earth, is right in the heart of buckaroo country. Pendleton is a place where people routinely attire themselves as buckaroos completely without irony (some contend that Pendleton is the town without irony).
However- in my time there, we’ve never done Buckaroo Holiday- or any other classic Western themed pieces. For years we were saving Rodeo, Billy the Kid and Magnificent Seven for a possible outdoor concert during Round Up- the world’s most debaucherous rodeo which comes ot Pendleton every summer. There was also a long standing theory advocated by some members of the bassoo section that if we did the Gunfight from Billy the Kid we could sell out the concert as long as we used real guns.
So, is there irony in Pendleton? Well, in Pendleton we do Mahler symphonies for bucakroos, which I find pretty damn ironic.

And in Wilmslow we do Buckaroo Holiday for folks who wonder if a buckaroo is a cousin of the kangeroo.