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Tag: kilt

Kilted in Aberdeen

Published on 16 July 2016

In a blog named Kilted Guy, it wouldn’t be right to skip the subject of being kilted in Aberdeen.

Usually I change into my kilt once I check into my hotel or hostel, but since we had the convenience of a private cabin in the Caledonian Sleeper, I could just put on my kilt in the morning, before even touching Aberdonian soil.

As usual in Scotland, people never seem to be fazed by the sight of a kilt — unlike in Brussels — and wearing my MacLaren kilt, I never received any remarks about it. Well, the lady at the left luggage facilities at the train station inquired about it, but she seemed to be seizing any opportunity to chat about anything…

During our stay in Aberdeen, we noticed two other kilties. The first one, a guy in his twenties, was wearing his kilt very casual. Read: halfway down his calves, way too low to my taste…
The other one was wearing a beautiful kilt, obviously made by 21st Century Kilts, easily identified by the typical kilt pin. He was wearing it exactly as you see it worn in the ads of the kilt maker, complete with high boots and scrunched down hoses. Now I look at their photos again, it might very well have been the white-bearded guy featuring in a couple of them!

For the Punk AGM I decided to wear my black ‘beer kilt’, complete with BrewDog-bottle-opener-converted-to-kilt-pin. Only minutes after leaving the hotel, someone noticed my BrewDog outfit, and wanted to take a photo of me.
At the AGM, someone else even made close-up shots of my kilt pin!
Then, while I was on my own for a couple of minutes, a Scottish lady — who obviously had a few beers too many already — came up to me to ask me why I was wearing “a schoolgirl’s skirt”! At first I thought it was because my black kilt is not the same high quality and yardage as my MacLaren kilt, and her Scottish eye spotted it was probably made in Pakistan. But no, it was merely because it was black! Apparently, in her mind, only a tartan kilt is a kilt.

I guess even some people in Scotland still have to get accustomed to ‘modern’ kilts…

Clans’ Days Ypres & Ooidonk

Published on 3 September 2015

It was the third time I attended the Clans’ Days in Ypres, and the second time in combination with the Schotse Dagen (Scottish Days) at castle Ooidonk near Deinze. But this time was quite special: it was the first time our clan chief, Donald MacLaren of MacLaren and Achleskine, attended as wel!

The Schotse Dagen started on Friday evening with a charity dinner on the castle grounds, with speeches, toasts, an auction, live music and lots of whisky. An unscheduled piece of music was performed by our own chief. He has no need for a ‘personal piper’, since he is a talented bagpipe player himself, specifically in the pibroch genre.

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In Ypres there was a nice addition to the usual clans’ march to the Menin Gate on Saturday: to give the chief an appropriate welcome, we invited the MacLaren Pipe Band Venlo.

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After the wreath laying at the Menin Gate and lunch, we went back to castle Ooidonck to man the clans’ tent and enjoy the Schotse Dagen.

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It was great to finally meet the chief, and I hope to see him again at some clan event in Scotland. Or maybe he liked the Belgian part of his clan so much he will visit Belgium again to attend one of the next Clans’ Days?

(photos by h–na, Liliane Hye and myself)

Jamie McCrimmon

Published on 13 February 2015

wobblycompetencies:

OKAY BUT DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN the companion who stayed with the Doctor the longest was a piper’s son named Jamie McCrimmon from 18th century Scotland who couldn’t read or write and had no idea what a radio or a toaster or an elevator was, much less a time-and-space-ship? And who probably mentally catalogued Daleks and Cybermen as “metal beasties” and “the other metal beasties”, and made fun of the Doctor for never, ever landing the TARDIS even remotely where he intended, but still called him a clever wee chappie and would follow this rumpled-looking little Englishman to the ends of the earth without hesitation?

And then remember how the Time Lords ripped the Doctor’s companions away from him and wiped their memories, and Jamie woke up in the middle of the Battle of Culloden with a redcoat shooting at him, and the Doctor was exiled on Earth with a broken TARDIS so he could never find them again?

And then remember that one time on the Scottish moors when Ten used the name Doctor McCrimmon.

I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT JAMES ROBERT MCCRIMMON OKAY.