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6 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tues. November 20, 1984 Doctors just want to have fun! (From page 3) was deciding which job to take. NOT EASY He wound up with Port 'Perry because the job 'had a Scottish reference telephone number ---- and he had a chance to meet Russ Martin's father, who bent his ear with tales of the Scugog area. And before he knew it, Dr. Millar was taking over the practise of Mat- thew Dymond, another well-known kilt-wearer. ~~, But all was not easy for the doctor and his wife, Catherine, upon their arrival. "I can tell you as an immigrant that it's not the easiest country to make friends in,' he says. '"The first six months I was really very unhappy. It was a lonely existence. My life was so busy in Scotland. We just had no time for ourselves and all of a sudden, on my first day, I saw one patient. One! The next day, I saw two." A smile creeps over his face when he recalls his first Canadian patient, who has never been his patient again since that early encounter. The hapless woman had come to Dr. Millar with a cold, so without further adieu, he wrote her a cold prescription, exactly the way he would have done in Scotland ---- where line-ups are longer than a GM picket line and time is short. OPEN-MOUTHED She looked at Dr. Millar with her mouth open. '""Aren't you going to listen to my breathing," she asked. "No," he said. '""'Aren't you going to look in my ears?' she asked. "No," he said. '""Aren't you even going to take my blood pressure?' she demanded. "No," he said calmly. '""You've got a cold, right? Here's your prescription." With that, she stomped out of his office, never to be seen by him as a pa- tient, again. He suddenly realized he'd better re-evaluate the way he was practis- ing medicine, and adjust his methods to what Canadians are used to. Which meant going back to basics and learning his "bedside manner' all over again. "Canadians expect and demand that even if they come in with a pim- ple on their nose, they ex- pect to have their blood pressure taken,' he laughs. | AS 4 Bring the Kids to the ANNUAL PORT PERRY starts at 2:00 p M All Participants should be at the Port Perry High School for formation by 1:15 P.M. Please contact Janet Smith, Parade Chairman - 985-8446 There will be three presentations of Award Plaques to winning participants in these categories: (1.) Comic (2.) Most Orig...al (3.) Judges' Special Award Winners to be announced in this newspaper at a later date! NOTE: TO SENIOR CITIZENS Dennis Anderson Chev-Olds and Port Perry IGA will be serving refreshments to all senior citizens during the parade. Drop in to enjoy a hot cup of coffee when you come out to see the parade on Queen Street on Saturday, November 24th. at ¥ h) Ne Since then, business has picked up consider- ably for the grinning doctor, infamous for his two oral addictions -- lollipops and cigarettes. While other physic-- ians and people in health-related indust- ries shun tobacco, Dr. Millar hangs in there, puff for puff. "The smokers have to have a doctor too," he points out. But even with a steady stream of clients going in and out of his office, Dr. Millar found he had time on his hands. So he put his hands to good use, back to his first love, the piano. As a teenager, Tom abandoned his music career, despite the potential he had to be a concert pianist. At one point in his life, caught up in medical exams and music exams at the same time, he was forced to choose. His father helped him make the decision. '""My father said, 'You'd make a lot more money being a doctor than being a piano teacher,"' he recalls. "To him, getting his son a better education was one of the biggest things in his life." Young Tom had start- ed taking lessons at seven, mainly because his mother 'decided I should go. I know I didn't like it because I carried my music in my jacket." At 13 his teacher suggested he find some- one else to give him piano lessons. She admitted she couldn't take him any further than she had already. So he found another teacher, and a job as well, as the organist and choirmaster of a 30 voice Anglican Church choir. Not bad for 13. Later, a minister arranged an audition for the teenaged organ player with the pres- tigious conservatory of music--unfortnuately, he didn't fare so well. "They told me I was so terrible that I should never have learned to play the organ at all, that I should go back and learn how to play the piano," ruefully. And back he did go, with lessons from the country's foremost teachers, and a burning desire to do well. By the time he turned 16, he was already studying medicine at university, torn between his med- ical exams and the performer's diploma tests. The performer's diploma was laid by the wayside and Tom stopp- ed playing the piano altogether, wrapped up in school, and soon after, an impossibly hectic practise. It wasn't until he was firmly established in Port Perry, with some free time once again, that he returned -to the piano. he says -- "All of a sudden I had to do something with my time or I'd go crazy with boredom," he says, sipping on the dregs of a coffee cup. "I realized I wanted my performer's diploma after all." And get it he did, but not without painful hours of practise and a series of disappoint- ments. "I suddenly realized to get this diploma you have to play bloody good,"" he muses. And would he leave his practise, now that he's finally got what he wanted for so long? He shakes his head. "I'm not good enough for music," he admits. "But it's been nice to know that theoretically someone with expertise thinks I'm a decent enough pianist." In the meantime, his biggest fans are the folks who belong to the Scugog Choral Society, who made him their president last year. "As time has gone past in Port Perry, we've (him and Cather- ine) made very many friends, and I suppose the most enjoyable thing in my life here has been Town Hall," he says, serious for once. "The opening of Town Hall has been one of the most important events in the town. It filled an artistic void. "The Borelians have done a phenomenal job and the Scugog Choral Society under Grace Hastings, well, she pro- bably did more than anyone else in town to bring musical comedy here." Now that he's in charge of the society, hs number one priority is convincing male singers to join, especially for the upcoming produc- tion Showboat, which requires 34 characters. And he doesn't even care how they sing. "To me, I'm not a great pianist and I'm not looking for great singers," he explains, gesturing with a freshly lit cigarette. "I haven't auditioned anybody yet for the choral society. I don't think everyone in a community choir should have a good voice J don't necessar- ily want 40 tone-deaf people up there, although that might be interesting. "But I would seriously think there would be more than 30 people in this community who can carry a note." He flicks the end of the butt into an ashtray and grins. SNOW PLOWING By Contract or Hourly 24 HR. SERVICE John R. McDougall 985-2758 A