San Diego anyone?

**OC Richard** · 22nd June 17, 05:12 PM

I haven't been in a couple years due to the band I was in passing on competing there.

I'm planning on going this Saturday.

I'm not in a band for once, so I can just hang out and relax.

Hope to see some XMarkers there!

**Tomak** · 23rd June 17, 06:53 AM

My wife and I will be there.

**OC Richard** · 24th June 17, 07:37 AM

Well now I have to do lunch with my mother-in-law today, so it will have to be Sunday.

**FossilHunter** · 25th June 17, 11:15 AM

I was there yesterday. It was a lot of fun and much larger than I expected. We marched with Clan Donald in the opening ceremony and I went to the scotch tasting which was a hoot. I find the peaty scotch isn't quite to my liking, we tried the Speyside 'Cutter'. I also tried haggis which was pretty tasty.

A few things I noticed in part because I've learned a lot from this site:
-lots of white socks, belts through sporran kilt loops, t-shirts, swords, etc.
-a lot more women in kilts than I had expected
-the biggest tent selling things was the one selling cheap swords and other weapons from claymores to Roman gladii.

One thing that seemed strange to me was that the anthem for Scotland was not 'God save the Queen'. Is that not used in Scotland? It was something that mentioned Edward Longshanks.

Wikipedia indicates that there are a few in use at sporting events but they aren't official. The flags they had were the Union Jack with the Scottish flag dipped nearby along with the US flag (the UK and US flags were held up at equal height). I would have thought GStQ would be the correct anthem outside of the UK. You learn something new every day I guess.

Edit: Pics will be up later

**48HofC** · 25th June 17, 12:21 PM

The national tune of Scotland is Flower of Scotland, you most likely heard that. It is used in place of God Save The Queen on many occasions that are specific Scottish events.

**OC Richard** · 25th June 17, 05:26 PM

Last I heard, Scotland has no "national anthem". Yes as part of GB it would officially be GSTQ.

It's one of those things both interesting and puzzling to us Americans about the complex relationships between England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

So in international sporting events they field separate teams, and yes Scotland uses Flower Of Scotland.

From time to time there's a push to get Scotland to adopt an official anthem, and various songs have been suggested.

Similar to Scottish teams using Flower Of Scotland, in Afghanistan you'll see Scottish military vehicles flying Scottish flags rather than the Union Jack.