Clan tent suggestions needed

[Ron Abbott]

I'm well aware of that.

What I was getting at is the whole tent and clan thing. That's the sort of thing where I would suggest there is a huge difference. On one side of the pond it's all kitsch and "hey I'm MacGregor from Illinois", with tartan everywhere and people wanting to connect with what they perceive as their roots.

And on the other side of the pond. It's more a case of, "where's the fish n' chips van...and/or where's the beer tent".
Clans? That's a sort of thing for Americans, Canadians et. al. For many the only 'clans' of interest are Rangers, Celtic, Hearts or whomever.

p.s.....love your shortbread but can you put it away for now as I'm supposed to be on a diet and the missus just might come in and see me munching away.....?

[MacKenzie]

Ron, why do you wear a kilt? From your posts it seems that you're put off by it.

[Chas]

I think Ron makes a good point, maybe without knowing it. All things in life come down to 'time and place'. We all know that the jacket that is ideal at noon at the County Show, will feel a little out of place that evening in the local city at the opera.

Likewise, what works on one side of the country, falls flat on the other. The visitors in a farming area might well be happy with pictures of highland cattle, whereas the urban visitors are more at home with pictures of icon buildings.

The important thing is to cater for the visitor expectations - and be willing to learn from experiences - both good and bad. If we wish to project an air of authority, then we must dress accordingly. A shirt, tie and jacket gives a professional impression. Whereas a crumpled T shirt with a "witty" slogan does not.

First impressions count for everything. The world's best and safest airline pilot arriving wearing a fur-coat and flip flops will do nothing to instil confidence in the nervous first time flyer.

If a person projects an air of being an expert who knows what he is talking about - he becomes an expert.

[Jock Scot]

I'm well aware of that.

What I was getting at is the whole tent and clan thing. That's the sort of thing where I would suggest there is a huge difference. On one side of the pond it's all kitsch and "hey I'm MacGregor from Illinois", with tartan everywhere and people wanting to connect with what they perceive as their roots.

And on the other side of the pond. It's more a case of, "where's the fish n' chips van...and/or where's the beer tent".
Clans? That's a sort of thing for Americans, Canadians et. al. For many the only 'clans' of interest are Rangers, Celtic, Hearts or whomever.

p.s.....love your shortbread but can you put it away for now as I'm supposed to be on a diet and the missus just might come in and see me munching away.....?

This is how I percieve things too, I am not a football, rugby, shinty, golf fan either, I am a fan of shortbread though! I think the difference between Highland Games styles--------I am not saying that one style is any more right, or wrong than the other------is that the Scots (on the whole) are living the "Scottish lifestyle"for real, they know who they are, they are unconciously surrounded by their history, traditions and culture and have sorted out most of the fairytale bullsh@t that many outwith Scotland are struggling with.The tourist industry for the last 150 years have not helped there, I am afraid. The Scots don't need to pretend at playing at being a Scot, or be "weekend Scots", or "pocket Scots", they are living it for real 24/7. They can hear bagpipes any day if they want to find it, they are surrounded by tartan and "Clanism"(is that a word?) its old hat to us. If we want to wear the kilt------assuming we own one-----we can at the appropriate moment, we dont have to invent a reason to wear the kilt we just do it when we feel the time is right. These daily influences and many more things that the Scots are probably unaware of, are the some of the reasons that our style of games are not the same as those outwith Scotland.