Kilts on a regular basis has its advantages

I frequent a local restaurant a couple of times a week. At least once a week I wear my kilt. That is normally on Friday evening. The staff on Friday appear to be the same ones every week for the most part. There are two that take a particular interest in the kilt. I got one of them tonight as my waitress. The other stopped by and and thanked me for wearing the kilt as she liked it. It appears she likes the USAKilt American Heritage tartan the best which is what I had on tonight. Wore it with a red shirt, black kilt hose, and red flashes. Tonight the kilt got more comments and looks from patrons than in the past. I did get a couple of "where is the bag pipe" questions. I guess that is better than the "other" question.

As I was finishing both of the young ladies walked up to me. I knew I was about to be asked something so for a few seconds I had to wait in suspense until they asked. You get that "oh crap they are going to ask me some thing" feeling. Turned out to be a simple question. They asked about tartan associations. Ok, simple enough, and I hope I answered them to their satisfaction and correctly.

When you wear a kilt on a regular basis the staff starts to know you and they feel more comfortable asking questions and making comments.

Tonight's experience was a good start to the weekend. I think this will be a good one.

Kilt ON!

Kilt + Convention

Over the weekend I attended an annual convention I have been going to for a number of years. In the past I always wore pants and never considered mixing a kilt into the convention until this year. Some of this group know I wear kilts but many have never seen me in one. This year that all changed. I wore a kilt, either a traditional or a contemporary, for the entire weekend. The result? I think it was positive. Only one vendor booth I passed generated a few laughs from the guys staffing the booth. They were speaking with an accent that I could not identify. Got some smiles from the ladies. In one case the lady was a piper. I had on a USAKilts semi-traditional at the time. She was looking for a lighter weight kilt for summer as all of hers were 16 oz wool. I pointed her to USAKilts for a PV semi-traditional. She did not know they made kilts out of PV (poly-viscose). For the contemporary kilts a few asked if I had on a Utilikilt. No, mine are are from Alphakilt. Two guys that asked if I had a Utilikilt were considering getting one or someone in their family was looking at them. Got a couple of "under the kilt" questions or comments.

As for others in a kilt, not this year. In the past there was someone from Florida that wore a kilt to the convention. Have not seen him for a couple of years.

I think I will make the kilt a standard form of dress at this convention going forward. Maybe some of the others that talked about the Utilikilt will bring theirs next year. If I can do it so can they.

Kilt On!

Saw Another Kilt!

I was driving home from a friends place this morning. Much to my surprise a young man walking down the sidewalk was wearing a black Utilikilt. He was walking with a young woman in my direction. It had been raining this morning so he was carrying a long umbrella. Unfortunately, I was in the wrong lane to pull into a parking lot. I would have liked to talk to him to see how often he wear the kilt and if he belongs to any of the kilt discussion groups. It is nice to see someone else in a kilt. Normally around here you see plenty of kilts at Celtic fests, St. Patty's day, etc. These guys just don't have the guts to wear one when they can't attach some excuse to doing so.

Changing topics. Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of Geocaching. The local Geocaching group is having a picnic. Unfortunately it is going to be raining so I hope the shelter is large enough to keep us dry. As usual I will be wearing one of my contemporary kilts. Not sure which one but I will have one of them. I even have a new t-shirt. It reads "Real men cache in kilts". Shows a cartoon drawing of a man in kilt next to a Geocach ammo can.

KILT ON!

Positive Comments

Two evenings about a week apart I went to dinner at a local cafeteria. I have gone there often for several years but mostly wearing pants. I have increased my attendance in kilts over the last six months. I believe I have talked about comments from this place before. This cafeteria is attended by an older crowd. For years I noticed an older man, by himself, eating dinner and reading a book. This guy looks familiar as I believe he was a member of a computer users group I belonged to many years ago. I never knew his name. I walked into the place wearing my USAKilts semi-traditional kilt in the Holyrood tartan. I sat on the other side of the room from where he was seated. I had to walk past his table to get to the other side. He did not appear to pay any attention to me. As I was eating dinner I noticed he stopped one of the waitress and pointed in my direction. I was not sure if he was actually commenting on the kilt or if that was just my imagination. I finished my dinner and was walking out. He got up ahead of me and went to the door. He waited at the door for me to walk through. At that point he made a comment about the kilt. He said he could identify about 30 tartans but not the one I had on. I told him it was a more modern tartan so that explained why he did not recognize it. He asked if I was attending any function. No, I just decided I wanted to wear my kilt. He was a little surprised by my answer. Not that he had any problem with it. He just never thought to wear kilt except for some function. He told me he had a Royal Stewart and use to belong to a few Scottish organizations. We chatted for about 15 minutes. As for the conversation with the waitress, he told me he asked if I got a discount for wearing my kilt. If so, he said he would wear his. I am sure we will have more conversations about his interest in kilts and Scottish culture in the future as I see him in the place a lot. I still don't know that man's name. I am bad with names anyway.

As I was chatting with the older man a lady came up and asked what tartan I was wearing. I told her and gave her a little history about it. So that night I had two very good experiences that would not have occurred if it was not for the kilt.

The next time I went to the cafeteria I had on my USAKilts semi-traditional kilt in the American Heritage tartan, blue shirt, and blue kilt hose. I sat down and was almost finished with dinner when a lady that had been sitting with her husband about 20 feet away walked over to me. I saw her walking in my direction and knew she going to say something. She asked about the tartan and said their family had Gordon and Williams in the family tree. She complemented me on the look.

Two great evenings out for dinner in the kilt!

No Kilt, No Service

The month of February was rather cold in this part of the country. I got tired of the cold and did not go out much at least in the kilt. Warmer weather is now upon us so I have been enjoying more "kilt" time. I eat out a lot and one of the regular places I frequent I am in a kilt maybe 50% of the time. It is obvious they recognize me as the kilt guy. Last Friday I walked in with my USAKilt in the Holyrood tartan. I got some attention from the staff; more so then in the past. As I was seated the waitress brought out my ice tea without being asked. That is what I always order. That is the first time that has happened. Last night I went back there but in (heaven forbid) pants. This time no ice tea on being seated. I guess no kilt, no service.

To make up for the lack of kilt wearing during February I spent all of Saturday and Sunday running errands in my AlphaKilt. We will be even warmer this weekend but I have work duties that may limit my activities.

Of all things to find on eHow

Ran across an article on eHow titled How to Bike in a Kilt. That is about the last topic I would expect to find on this site. Looking over eHow there are articles on wearing the kilt in general but specific to riding a bike surprised me. The article is written by a lady. I don't know if she intended this for ladies in kilts or men. When I see the word "kilt" to me that is a man's garment so I read this from a man's garment perspective. The reason I ask is she comments on the length of kilt from long to short. She also did not say if she had experience herself riding a bike in a skirt. She does not state the type of bike but I would have to say she assumed a standard road bike. On a road bike you are basically in a vertical position if you have the seat high. Wearing a standard length kilt the center bar would get in the way unless you have ladies bike. For men in kilts I would assume most would have a standard bike with the bar. This bar may actually help to keep the kilt in place as you ride. Getting on and off the bike presents possible exposure situations as she states. Wearing something under the kilt is a must for two reasons. First is exposure which you don't want and the second is problems with chafing.

As a bike rider myself I have tried to ride one in a kilt. My bike is a recumbent which has the rider in a more horizontal position. I have made two attempts at riding with a kilt. The kilt happened to be a standard Utilikilt. The standard kilt does not have the modesty strap as you will find on the Workman so that was not an option to try. I wore something under it for reasons stated above. With my legs out in a horizontal position the wind would push the kilt back. At no time did the wind attempt to flip the kilt up it just pushed it back. I had no idea what was showing under the kilt for those approaching me but there was a lot of leg showing if nothing else. I found myself fighting the kilt material trying to push it back. I quickly determined that this was making for a rather uncomfortable ride. Even with something worn under the kilt I suspect those approaching me would not appreciate the view even if there was nothing illegal about it. I made both rides on a side street so I could test the concept without any riders or walkers present. On a regular road bike I think I could have gotten away with wearing a kilt but not on the recumbent. If the kilt was modified to add a snap or something to connect the back with the front between the legs it may work. This is probably not worth the hassle. So it looks like my bike riding this season will be back in shorts.

Kilt on!

Burns Night Dinner

Last night I attended a Burns night dinner in Columbus, Ohio. This was held at Barley's Smokehouse on Dublin Road. This was the first year to attend at this location. Apparently Barley's has hosted the dinner for the last eleven years. One of the members of our kilt night group happened to stumble upon this event in time to get reservations. I was not sure what to expect at this dinner. Last year we had Burns dinner at another location in Columbus that was just dinner without the other calibration that normally accompanies Burns Night, such as, piping in the Haggis, reading of Burns poetry, etc.

I was not sure how to dress for this event. Some Burns Night dinners are quite the fancy dress while others are casual. I decided to wear what I did last year. I failed to get a proper jacket this past year so I was back to my sweater vest, white shirt, and tie. Turns out this was more of a "come as you feel like" event. Some had on blue jeans and others had a coat and tie. Some of us had kilts that ranged from casual to semi-formal with a PC (Prince Charles) jacket. Personally, I prefer to go to this type of event dressed better than the typical kilt night. I still need to get a PC jacket so it is still on my list to acquire this year.

There were about 60 or so in attendance. I did not count them so my estimated count may be off by +/- 10 or so. Many of those in attendance had attended in prior years so this was annual party of familiar faces to them. From the comments and show of hands there were more first timers at this year and included the four in the group I associate with.

We started the evening assembling in the lobby and bar. Sometime after 7pm we heard the bag pipes and they accompanied the chief with the Haggis. We fell in line and followed them into a large meeting room that was setup for our dinner. Now this was in Barley's Smokehouse that was serving regular customers on a Saturday night. They had a full house and I am sure they were not aware of the Burns Night dinner going on that evening. Everyone seated at the tables stopped and watched the parade of "piping in the Haggis" as we all followed to the other side of the building. I am sure the waitress staff had a lot of explaining to do as to what was going on.

Once in the room the owner said a few words and read Burns poetry. Everyone was in a talking mood so he had some problem getting their attention which was a little disappointment to me. I am not a Burns expert nor am I familiar with all the ceremony around the Burns Night dinner so I wanted to learn and pay attention to what the master of ceremonies was doing. We were then served Haggis which was followed by the remainder of the four course dinner. They had some local brewed beer in a keg so that was tapped and served to the guests. This was in addition to the three samples of Scotch served during the dinner. They use a different Scotch for every Burns dinner. The placemat had a list of Scotch served during prior years.

Those that had stories to tell about Scotland were allowed to do so. For some it was obvious this event was like a home coming.

As the evening progressed the alcohol started to take effect and everyone was having a very good time. I don't think the master of ceremonies finished all the poetry reading he had planned as he had to give up on holding everyone's attention. Some of Burns works published after his death is somewhat suggestive and many were having great fun reading and letting their imagination run with it. A good example was the poem "Johnie Lad, Cock Up Your Beaver". If you imagine the slang usage of "beaver" you can understand the comedy about it. For the record beaver a hat that I have to assume was made from Beaver pelts. Cock being a term for positioning it on the head. It was obvious that everyone was having a good time. We left Barley's around 11pm to go to a local Irish pub that had a band playing. The pub was populated mostly by the college age crowd so us "old guys" were somewhat out of place. I could not stay long as I had a long drive back to Dayton. I got home about 1:30am.

I hope Barley's continues this event next year. Everyone in our group wants to go back.

Johnie Lad, Cock Up Your Beaver

When first my brave Johnie lad came to this town,
He had a blue bonnet that wanted the crown;
But now he has gotten a hat and a feather,
Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!

Cock up your beaver, and cock it fu' sprush,
We'll over the border, and gie them a brush;
There's somebody there we'll teach better behaviour,
Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!

-Robert Burns (1791)