23 years ago this week marked a huge milestone in my life. It was my high school graduation. I was part of a special graduating class at Hempfield Area High School. Our class was the first class to graduate in the new millennium. Even though it was so long ago, it still feels like yesterday.

It was a chilly night for commencement ceremonies and my mom recalls everyone wearing winter coats on the field that night. We had to move graduation back a day because of the rain and almost postponed it again. As the ceremony ended the clouds broke and sunset became visible in the background.

That weekend was my graduation party. The weather was perfect and we had a great turnout. Friends from the swim team showed up, as well as lots of other family members and friends. Even Mr. Clougherty himself made a visit. I’ll always remember two of my friends from the swim team helping our elderly neighbor sit down at our table we had set up in the yard. That was very sweet of them.

When the party came to an end, I wrote out thank you cards and put my money in the bank. My parents always made sure to keep me in line at my young age.

That summer, I got ready to plan for college. I would be attending the Hiram G. Andrews Center in Johnstown come August. The plan would be to attend classes there as a pre-baccalaureate major before transferring to the local community college. I repeat myself constantly in these blogs, but I don’t care. Thus, the $64,000 question.

Why didn’t I stay home and attend Westmoreland County Community College?

That was in the plans at one point, but also Robert Morris College and The Bradford School (both of those schools would have been super expensive). Attending WCCC would have helped me get my credits transferred to a four year school and I could gotten a job to make money to pay for school. But, my mother wanted me to experience life on my own and that’s why we decided on the Hiram G. Andrews Center. I did transfer to a four year school down the road with those credits I got from community college though.

I’ll talk about the move-in day experience at HGA in a future blog post as my experience itself. But I will say, my first semester there went well. I experienced some homesickness at first but I adjusted to college life very quickly.

Eventually, I would begin to prepare myself for my next challenge.

My last month of 41 is here. So today we will take a look back at how it’s gone and what’s coming up.

It wasn’t a spectacular birthday unlike the year before. But 41 has had its bright and shining moments. I started it with a trip to the Gaffron farm for the annual Fourth of July picnic. In August, our store had a cookout for all of its night turn employees as a way to appreciate the hard work they did. All the higher ups even attended.

In September, I discovered Queer Eye on Netflix and fell in love with the show. I’m currently on Season 7, which takes place in New Orleans. In October, we celebrated Annabelle’s tenth birthday and had the Gaffron Family Reunion all in the same weekend. I took a few Sundays during the Fall to go to Ligonier and just sit in the Diamond.

Our family had one of the best Thanksgivings I’ve seen in a while. We usually go to Somerset but moved it to our house and it turned out well. In December, I celebrated my first paid vacation since 2007, when I worked at Kings. While Christmas was cold, it was a better holiday than the last two years were. I even found two new Christmas movies to watch.

I got back to blogging in January thanks to a new laptop gifted to me from my cousin and her family. I sent them gift cards for Starbucks (for the parents) and Chick Fil-a (for the boys). Unfortunately, the first half of 2023 has also seen us make several trips to Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh as Cousin B has dealt with numerous health issues (he was there for two weeks in August and before Christmas as well as a few days in January).

When they went again in February, we figured it was time to nip this thing in the bud. They just got home last week.

It was a quiet Spring for the most part. I accepted the nomination for President of the Greensburg Toastmasters club in March. I saw the Super Mario Bros. movie in April. In May, Aunt Sue and I saw the Billy Porter floral exhibit at Phipps. I visited her on Mother’s Day. Other than that and work, not much else has gone on.

I tested the waters of gender nonconformity and dressing non-traditionally but now I know what works and what doesn’t. I’ve enjoyed my journey and will continue to support the LGBTQ community like Mama Tammye from Queer Eye has. It’s not going away, just being restructured. With me becoming President at Greensburg next year, I wanted to shift back to dressing more traditionally.

I’ve gradually gotten back into going to church again and I will be there this Saturday night as Cornerstone honors the graduating seniors. I attended earlier this year for the Doer series covering the book of James.

I hit a bump in the road with my church back in 2021 but now I am ready to get back to it. I was having a lot of other problems then but the church wasn’t one of them.

This week I began to take on the process of decluttering. I have a lot of stuff I don’t use so why keep it around? Progress has been made but there’s still a lot of things to go through and get rid of. That will take place most of next week. I would love to finish this by either Father’s Day or before Summer TLI on June 24.

As I alluded in the look ahead, it’s a big Toastmasters month for our club and for the District. Wednesday night is our open house and we’re hoping for a nice turnout in person and online. It’s crunch time this month for clubs to achieve their goals so they can qualify for the Distinguished Club Program or achieve high honors. Greensburg is trying to qualify for Select Distinguished status in 2022-23.

June 24 is Club Officer Training for our District as new officers to learn to do their roles effectively and apply what they pick up at their upcoming meetings. I’ve been to many of these events and with the exception of one Winter TLI, we’ve always been at WCCC.

You’ll see food posts this month from me as I am going to French Express and maybe the Kitchen on Main. I’ll be doing my birthday dinner at Burgatory on June 29.

42 will be here before I know it.

When one looks back at May, they could say that it came in like a Lion 🦁 and came out like a lamb 🐑. Some even saw a little snow.

It was election season so Greensburg Toastmasters had to meet online for both May meetings. I spoke at the second meeting, giving a eulogy about Mister Rogers. I also stepped up at the Laurel Highlands meeting and gave a speech as Ryan had no speakers scheduled. Volunteering to give a speech with two hours or less to prepare was a great way for me to set an example for the club. Maybe one day I’ll pull that off at Greensburg too.

I saw the Billy Porter exhibit at Phipps Conservatory on May 19. The floral designs were very neat and the photos I took really told the story. Billy is a Pittsburgh icon and you might remember him from such shows as the Masked Singer. My aunt and I ended the day by driving around Oakland and then eating dinner at a cool Primanti’s five minutes from the hospital.

Benny came home on Friday and that felt like a red letter day for us. We celebrated his homecoming on Memorial Day with sandwiches and a picnic outside. We’re hoping he’s out of the woods. He seemed very happy Monday while we visited.

Changes are coming in June as I begin to declutter and downsize (more the former than the latter contrary to what I said on Monday). I’m taking an hour a day on it but I’m convinced this may be its own summer project. I’m trying to turn over a new leaf as I turn 42 at the end of the month.

It’s a big month for Toastmasters (for me at least). My home club will be hosting an open house on Wednesday, June 7 and we are hoping for a nice turnout. We are in line to finish Select Distinguished in Greensburg. The open house will be hybrid, meaning it will be held online and in person. You can live in eastern PA and still attend the event through Zoom.

A few weeks later will be District 13’s Club Officer Training, or Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) which will also be hybrid. This event is held twice a year (usually in June and December, sometimes later) to train new club officers to be the best at their officer roles for the new Toastmasters year.

There’s general learning sessions followed by club officer “breakouts” where you meet with others who are also serving in the same officer role as you. Here you can pick up tips on how do your job effectively and apply those at your upcoming meetings. I have some good ideas on how I want to run the Greensburg Club and I plan to lead us to Presidents Distinguished status in 2023-24.

We’ll have lunch provided to us and have one more session before adjourning for the day. For those who are serving the District, there will be a council meeting following the event.

District 13 TLI will be held on June 24 at Westmoreland County Community College and online from 8am to 2:30pm.

While today (June 1) begins Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈, the end of the month signals another year around the sun for me. Mr. Clougherty and I will celebrate my birthday on June 29 at Burgatory in Murrysville (tentative) as part of our Eating Out series. The rest of the schedule is now set through October. This will be my fourth trip to the hip burger joint and shake shack and they never fail to disappoint.

My food adventures will take me to Burgatory at the end of the month but also French Express and maybe Ligonier’s The Kitchen on Main if I make it to Night Market on July 15.

I had hoped to be planning for our vacation trip to Delaware next week but things changed earlier this year so that will have to wait until 2024. My vacation will be in September so instead of spending time on the beach, I’ll be looking at the leaves as they start to change.

Happy first day of June everyone. Hard to believe the year is almost half over.

Hi I’m James Gurksnis. You might remember me from such blog posts as this one right here or such Toastmasters clubs as Greensburg Toastmasters.

Recently, the entertainment world marked the 25-year anniversary of the passing of actor Phil Hartman. Hartman was a regular on Saturday Night Live from 1986 until 1994, playing various characters and also a writer on the show. He has many voice acting credits to his name as well (not as many as Frank Welker but still very prolific). In my opinion, his best voice acting work took place on The Simpsons, where he mainly appeared as actor Troy McClure and disbarred attorney Lionel Hutz, but other characters as well. Lyle Lanley included.

In tonight’s blog, I’m going to discuss Phil through his work on The Simpsons because I’m more familiar there.

Perhaps the passing of Phil Hartman is one of the reasons why the Simpsons has gone downhill over the years. Hartman guest starred in 52 episodes of the show between 1991 and 1998. He also starred on NBC’s hit sitcom NewsRadio from 1995 to 1998.

One of the the best Simpsons episodes that Phil Hartman took part in was “A Fish Called Selma”. It’s a Troy McClure-centered episode that was developed to give Hartman a larger role on the show. In it, we learn more about the character’s backstory. Great musical numbers in it as well. At one point before Hartman passed, he expressed an interest in making a live action film about Troy McClure. He would have even bought the rights to make the film itself happen.

Hartman also starred in one of the show’s greatest episodes of all time, Marge vs. the Monorail, as conman Lyle Lanley (a parody of Harold Hill). The episode is a parody of The Music Man. Also appearing as himself was Leonard Nimoy 🖖.

Hartman had film roles in 1995 with Houseguest, alongside Sinbad. They would reunite for 1996’s Jingle All The Way. Other film credits include Coneheads and Sgt. Bilko (both starring another Saturday Night Live alum and one of the original cast members, Dan Aykroyd). He also appeared in commercials for McDonalds and 1-800 COLLECT (remember them?).

Hartman died on the morning of May 28, 1998, by homicide when he was fatally shot by his wife. As a result of Hartman’s passing, the Simpsons retired the Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure characters. They did the same with Mrs. Krabappel after Marcia Wallace died in October of 2013.

The Simpsons and the world is a less funnier place without you, Troy.

This long holiday weekend has come to end for me. It was nice to have an little vacation from Giant Eagle but I’ll be ready to get back to the grind tomorrow night. I worked last week Sunday to Thursday and this week I work Tuesday to Saturday, hence the little vacation.

Benny is home from Children’s after a four month stay. Out of respect for my aunt and my family, I didn’t post about his hospital experience or about the surgeries. We went up to Somerset today for a picnic and to celebrate Memorial Day. Overall it was a good day and it’s great to have Aunt Sue and Benny home. There will be appointments but so far, things are looking up.

Memorial Day weekend has come and gone. The next big events on my agenda will be the Greensburg Toastmasters Open House next Wednesday, and then Club Officer training on June 24 at Westmoreland County Community College.

In tonight’s blog post I want to discuss not only the topic of downsizing, but also turning over a new leaf. Without going into further detail on what this means for me, let’s talk about the meaning of the word downsize.

“Downsize” is a verb meaning to reduce in size. I learned about downsizing in my high school economics class and in business terms, it usually means positions are being eliminated. In real estate, the word also means to move to smaller place of residence. Speaking from a non-business standpoint, downsize means to make something smaller.

In the coming weeks for me, my definition of downsizing will involve reducing space.

I did that before when I moved home in November of 2019 after my grandmother’s passing earlier that year. Not really wanting to get into the details too much, I accumulated a lot of things since. However, I really don’t need them anymore. This is a big project I will be undertaking and I plan to use the time between now and Club Officer Training to get it done. On the other hand, it won’t take that long.

To turn over a new leaf means to alter your behavior in a positive way to start fresh to change course to start afresh.

I feel I want to turn over a new leaf in the new Toastmasters year when I become President for the Greensburg club on July 1. I’m excited for us and the upcoming Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) event. A dozen years in Toastmasters and this will be my biggest year yet.

“Downsizing” will help me arrive at training on a clean slate and keep me more focused when July 1 gets here. I’ll feel at peace when I turn 42 and when I enjoy my Burgatory birthday dinner the night before that.

Today’s blog post is about the music genres that I’ve listened to over the years. I’ll go into what stations I’ve liked over the years. Plus, I’ll also get into my choice of streaming service now that everything is digital.

Believe it or not, there was a time when I heard music on the radio and turned it off. I don’t know what it was back then. Maybe it was my emotions toying with me. But I got over my fear of the radio and began to enjoy what I was hearing.

I’m from the Pittsburgh area and I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s. I listened to 3WS (94.5) and Variety 96 (96.1) on occasion as well as DVE (102.5). My parents had WLTJ (92.9) and WSSH (99.7) on in the background a lot of the time. We also listened to KDKA-AM (1020) and WTAE-AM (1250) for Pirates and Steelers games and Sportstalk (well, mostly my dad did).

I grew up with B-94 (WBZZ, 93.7) and loved their DJ’s and the song rotation. Back in 1996, it was Sheryl Crow, Natalie Merchant, Jewel, Counting Crows, etc. Matchbox 20 and Wallflowers and the Dave Matthews Band were also popular. Then boy bands dominated the late 90s and early 2000s with N’Sync, and Backstreet Boys as well as 98 Degrees. When I went to college, I switched to Power 99.1 in Johnstown (it switched frequencies with 92.1 which was an all-rock station). I was mostly entertained by that era of bubble gum pop music that came and went with the dot-com companies. I still enjoy it once in a while thanks to my Amazon music subscription.

In today’s blog, I’ll also talk about my top three genres of music over the years and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at some of my other choices. While I lived for Pop/Top 40, I had some variety in my listening preferences too.

1. Country–One of the Pop/Top 40 stations I listening went to a Country format in 2000, I’m no stranger to the genre though. I was introduced to country when my Mom would play Garth Brooks cassettes on our road trips to Somerset or to my Gram’s house. We owned most of his collection and eventually, I began to like more country acts like Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (the latter two being more a pop country crossover).
2. Jazz–Believe it or not, I was introduced to Jazz music when I watched the Weather Channel as a child. Their local forecasts consisted of smooth jazz and jazz fusion music selections from bands like the Rippingtons, Norman Brown, and the Crusaders. I didn’t know where this music came from but I had the answer to my question in early 2006 when I discovered TWCClassics.com (a nostalgia website dedicated to all things Weather Channel). During my senior year of high school, I grew out of B94 and into 90.5 (formerly WDUQ which operated out of Duquesne University) and enjoyed their news and jazz programming. I listened to Tony Mowod a lot in the summer evenings of 2000 when I wasn’t listening to Froggy or Y108.
3. Contemporary Christian–In 2002, I began to switch over to Christian music as I had dated someone who had a strong faith in Jesus and I wanted a change. This was one of my main genres of music throughout the rest of my time in college. My interest in this genre is due mainly to the influence it had during my time at HGA and Slippery Rock and as I found my first church home following graduation. I feel like I listen to it more now to keep up with my other Christian friends. I enjoy it but it’s not my #1 choice of listening even though I own quite a bit of praise and worship and CCM albums.

Fun Fact: During my time in college, one of my friends was against listening to secular music entirely due to her faith, but eventually I did get her into more pop-friendly music. I got her to enjoy Backstreet Boys and N’Sync as well as some of the popular one hit wonders of 2000 and 2001.

In terms of streaming music services as I close out the blog, I’ve shuffled around (again, pardon the pun) between Spotify and Amazon Music. Amazon has all of Garth Brooks’ albums available to stream and for that reason I have decided to stay with them. I can listen to all my podcasts on Amazon that I would on Spotify or Apple. Streaming has been the future for years now even though record players and phonographs have made a comeback. More records than compact disks were sold in 2019. That’s the first time that’s happened since 1987.

To think though, it used to always be cassettes and 8-tracks.

Today’s blog goes back to the Summer of 2003, as I achieved one degree and was going to work towards furthering my education. It’s August and I’m getting my stuff packed and ready to move in at Slippery Rock University. I would be living in Kraus Hall, a residence hall for non-traditional students, during my first year on campus.

Before I move on in this blog post, I want to give out Happy Birthday wishes. A happiest of birthdays to my longtime friend Rocco Cremonese who is celebrating his today. Rocco and I met during my first year at the Rock. We lived across the hall from each other on the second floor in Kraus. Rocco transferred from WCCC and graduated from Greater Latrobe. His brother Frank was also starting his freshman year, living in Rhoads Hall. Rocco and I became fast friends and spent a lot time watching football on Sundays. Our friendship has stood the test of time since graduation.

My first weekend at Slippery Rock was packed with fun, food, and fellowship with lots of incoming freshman and transfer students. For all returning students, it was back to reality that weekend as they started another year of school. For some it was their last and they would be thinking about the rest of their lives. Enjoy every minute of college and don’t take it for granted because you’ll never know when it’s gone.

We played fun trivia games and got to spend time at the baseball park located at the south end of campus. We enjoyed a movie under the stars. It was Bruce Almighty. Not the best film. but it gave us a few laughs. Not Jim Carrey or Morgan Freeman’s best role, but I was introduced to a hilarious guy named Steve Carell. He was a few years away from landing his greatest role of all time. That’s What She Said!

For me, the honeymoon would be over as soon as classes began Monday. That first week I was already in over my head. That would be a telling reminder of what the semester and school year was going to be like for me. I guess I shouldn’t have taken all those amenities at HGA for granted, like public transportation and not having to walk from building to building for all my classes.

The first semester was a learning experience for me (no pun intended) and it came equipped with many moments of humility. But I had good moments along the way. Just as the Pittsburgh Steelers struggled in 2003, so did I. They’d pick up their star QB in 2004 and improve their standing as an elite team. I would be destined to do the same at Slippery Rock.

I dealt with many obstacles along the way and made my share of mistakes. I fell behind in classes; got stressed out too many times; dealt with being broke (the terms poor and college student go together); and, had my heart broken. I did very well in my community college courses; however, my first semester and year at the Rock was going to be quite a different ballgame entirely. In the end, it would result in changes needing to be made to ensure future success down the line.

Despite my first semester struggles, I had my share of good times. This involved playing Madden in the dorm lounge and hanging out in Rocco and Steve’s room as well as playing Mario Kart: Double Dash on GameCube. I tried to find my place in the world and made a lot of friends in the clubs and ministries that I joined. I discovered the ARC (the Rec center on the south end of campus) which was one of my favorite buildings on campus and had one of the most beautiful designs.

While my first semester at HGA was a breeze, the first semester at Slippery Rock was a completely different storm. Even though I had been in college three years, I felt really lost in the shuffle. But you have to go through the rain to get to the rainbow. However, skies clear up and things do get better.

On Tuesday night at my Laurel Highlands Toastmasters meeting, I did something that I haven’t in my 12 years in the organization. I gave two speeches in less than a week. That hasn’t happened before and I was proud of myself for stepping up to the plate.

Our club president Ryan sent an email Tuesday looking for speakers as none were scheduled. As I was getting ready to go to my meeting, a speech idea came to mind. I had just done a speech and needed to do the second one for my project–Deliver Social Speeches. I was going to give that one on June 13 but decided to swap my speech with giving an evaluation.

It couldn’t have worked out any more perfectly. Club member Andrea Michaux served as my evaluator (we were both scheduled to be speech evaluators). My last speech a week ago at Greensburg was a eulogy for Mister Rogers, which was delivered very well. This social speech was about presenting an award. I honored our club’s founder and current Vice President of Education Sharon Imes (nee Joseph) with a pseudo Spirit of Toastmasters award. I won one back in 2020 along with two other member.

I think Sharon can definitely win Spirit of Toastmasters because she has a huge passion for the organization. Just as she started the Laurel Highlands Club in Fayette County, we hope she and Gary can get Toastmasters going in the Frostburg-Cumberland area too.

Even though it was a small turnout for our meeting (six total with half in person and half virtual), it was a successful one. Ryan even got some names for next years’ officer list. I will reprise my Sergeant at Arms role for the club.

The reason I wrote this blog was to talk about the importance of stepping up to the plate when needed. It’s an important term whether you’re a sports team and you need to win to pull ahead in your division, or if you’re a Toastmaster. Why we’re in Toastmasters is to improve our communication and leadership skills and learn to work as a team.

Ryan could have just had Table Topics for the meeting but in my heart I really felt the need to help the team out. As President next year in Greensburg, I really want to set a good example for everyone by speaking more and, finally, finishing my path. Plus, one of level 4’s elective projects is to write a compelling blog. How much more perfect can it get? I also want to start off the Greensburg meetings by reading the mission and highlighting one role per meeting.

Next Laurel Highlands meeting is June 13 and the first meeting for the 2023-24 Toastmaster Year will be July 11. Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) aka Club Officer Training will be held June 24 and will be hybrid (in person and online).

When it comes to the greatest selling albums, which one comes to mind? Is it Back in Black by AC/DC, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, or Thriller by Michael Jackson? What’s the best song of your entire lifetime? Highway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin or Hotel California by the Eagles? What about Purple Rain by Prince (the album and song)?

What’s the first album you ever bought? For me it was a CD and it was Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morrissette. I just mentioned some of the best records of all time. For my generation, that was one of the best. But our opinions differ.

24 years ago this month, the Backstreet Boys released their second album Millennium. They already had success with their self-titled debut and hits like “As Long as You Love Me” and “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”. So I was sure this new one would be a hit and surely, it did not disappoint. I bought both albums in January of 2000 and quickly became turned on to the boy band craze.

Hits like “I Want It That Way” and “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely” got lots of airplay in 1999 and 2000 and stayed on the top 100 charts for many weeks. For me, it was my senior year and these were my jams. For those of you who grew up in the 80’s you had Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul, and in the 70’s you danced to the tunes of the Bee Gees and KC and the Sunshine Band. When I graduated high school and was off to college, these became my hits.

The music videos were always fun to watch (back when they were a thing). God I miss the old days of MTV and VH-1 when they played videos. Proud to be coming of age during the B-94 days (pre-2004) and was stoked when it temporarily came back in 2007. When I left for college in August 2000, I had Power 99.1 in Johnstown to keep me entertained. Even though pop music is long outdated like disco, I still enjoy it.

Say what you will, the Backstreet Boys are the greatest boy band of all time (apologies to all you N’Sync and Justin Timberlake fans) and Millennium is one the best selling albums of all time, if not the greatest.

Oh, and they released their first Christmas album last fall, “A Very Backstreet Christmas”. It’s worth a listen and it has one of the best covers of George Michael’s “Last Christmas”.

Check out my blog post later this week when I talk about my favorite music genres.

It seems like it’s been forever since I last posted. It’s been a busy time with work and competing in the Diamond League finals on Duolingo 🦉 🇫🇷 🇮🇹 🇩🇪 . Plus, when there’s not much interesting going on in my life or I don’t feel up to it, I won’t post it.

I’m trying not to make this Spring a repeat of last year when I was going through my crap and trying to figure out how to do things around my new job. But sometimes it feels like it.

However, yesterday felt like a good day to get out of the house. I had plans to meet my aunt and go to Phipps with her to check out the Billy Porter Flowers 🌺 and Fashion 👗 exhibit.

The dress designs were absolutely amazing and showed off a lot of color. There were selfie 🤳 stations at the exhibit and backdrops where you could strike a pose. I’ll let some of the other pictures tell the story.

We spent a hour there taken in by all the flora and fashion. Billy Porter is a Pittsburgh icon in the art scene 🎬 🎭 , up there with playwright August Wilson and of course, Michael Keaton. I read his memoir back in November 2021 as I was just beginning my journey.

Fun fact: Billy Porter attended Carnegie Mellon University and Josh Gad was a student of his.

While I’m looked at as an inspiration for my gender nonconforming adventures, Billy Porter was a trailblazer long before and he had two strikes against him already. He was sent to therapy to “fix” his effeminacy (Jess mentioned conversion camp to Bobby in the “Black Girl Magic“ episode of Queer Eye and he was glad she didn’t go through with it).

After we left Phipps, we drove around Oakland and looked for a place to grab a bite to eat. We couldn’t find the bistro that was recommended eating so we looked around. I was willing to go across the street and eat at the Indian restaurant but wasn’t sure I could handle all the spices.

We settled for some classic Pittsburgh fare and ate at Primanti’s on Penn Avenue in East Liberty. This is a newer location and it has outdoor seating. Down the road are the Duolingo headquarters and a recently opened Whole Foods Market.

I dropped off Aunt Sue at the hospital afterwards and then went home. My Very Pittsburgh Day had come to an end.