Kilted Fridays Adventures

[CBH]

It wasn't necessarily on a Friday, but I wore kilts on most nights on a Mediterranean cruise I just returned from. The cruise line had a policy that demanded evening attire, including long pants, after 6 PM.

I found it very strange to select an arbitrary time of day, rather than simply enforcing the dress code at restaurants and assuming folks would stay dressed after dinner.

So I thought I'd show them - I didn't wear pants at all !!

Funnily enough, I was called out at the first two dinner establishments we went to. They staff is largely from 3rd world countries, so they had no concept of what a kilt is or in what context it would be worn. I assured them kilts are more formal than long pants, and after escalation, I was approved to attend dinner. No more harassment after the first two incidents.

I did have a fellow traveller ask if I was clan Thompson or Thomas (I can't remember which). I replied that I was wearing my Texas Bluebonnet tartan, since I am a native Texan. He still acted like we stole his family colors, but admired wearing the kilt overall. I just checked the registry and neither has a tartan that looks like Texas Bluebonnet. There were light blues in some of the personal Thomas tartans, but nothing even close in Thompson.

It was funny though, my explaining that I chose tartans I could personally identify with to avoid conflicts with people who's clan I did NOT belong to.