"Two ships that pass in the night" -- a new jones

[OC Richard]

I ordered a set of Dunbar bagpipes and the UPS driver left it out in the middle of our driveway (A shared dirt driveway that is about 500 yards long) in the snow.

Hey I play Dunbars too!

My potential tragedy was similar to yours: I ordered a half-set of uilleann pipes from a maker in Northern Ireland, of boxwood. As people might know, uilleann pipes are more slender and delicate and easy to break than Highland pipes.

So one day I come home and there's a ripped-up paper bag on my front porch. One rip was big enough to allow me to see the uilleann pipes inside.

Rather than disassembling the pipes, wrapping each section in bubble wrap, and putting everything in a sturdy box as is usually done, the maker had simply wrapped wrapping paper around the completed instrument, tied it with a bit of string, and shipped it!

Amazingly nothing was broken.

That halfset in C, in boxwood, today would cost around $3000.