Some people hate bagpipes. I love ’em. The European settlers of what is now Dunedin were from Scotland, and their influence survives today.

The high school had a pipe band. They made Friday night an event – even if you weren’t interested in football. If their music didn’t get your heart beating faster, marching on and off the field, you didn’t have one to begin with. A friend of mine from another school – a rival no less – often said our band fired him up.

Some songs, like Amazing Grace, are ruined forever for me – unless they’re played on the pipes.

I always thought the name of the band was a little ironic though – the highlander band – considering the school always flooded when it rained.