St. Andrew's Ball, Taipei 2007
Saturday December 01, by Jerome F. Keating Ph.D.
All work and no play makes Jack and certainly Jerome a dull boy, so at this time of the year, we always go out to play is at the St. Andrew's Ball in Taipei. This year it was again sponsored by the British Chamber of Commerce and held on November 17 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. A fine night it was.
The affair has a standard ritual and proceedings. It begins with champagne reception from 7--8 pm; that is followed by dinner and the cutting of the Haggis accompanied by the recitation of Robbie Burns Address to a Haggis. Now I have been attending these balls for some six years or more and have heard that poem each time. All I can say is that "I still dinna understan' a word the man say."
Dinner continues with red and white wines; there are scotch and beer if one is feeling a bit more plebian. Remarks follow along with a piping selection and the singing of the "Flower of Scotland." By 10 pm we are ready to dance and dance we will. Alternating sets of Scottish dancing and disco continue until 2 am when it is time to take a breather and have some breakfast. After that it is more dancing until it is time to sing Auld Lang Syne and call it a night or morning at 4 am.
Afterwards we cannot guarantee that everyone is up at the crack of dawn or even by noon but to be sure that all have had a good evening. There were some there who celebrated with us in Taipei on the following weekend they celebrated in Bangkok, now that is doing it right.
Pictures of this year's event can be found here or by clicking on "Another Side" on the left and looking at the subalbums under St. Andrew's Ball. You can compare them with previous years.