I was born in Canada, went to school in the Highlands, high school in British Columbia and university in Scotland and England. I have lived also in Ireland and Italy and now live in both Scotland and Canada.

My great, great grandfather is the first we have record of in Highland dress



That was his daily attire so we assume his forebears were similarly dressed.

My great uncle, grandfather and his two brothers were, I am told, often kilted but all died before I was born and so were not responsible for my Highland dress education.

My father and his brother were kilted for all special occasions, often ones that were not so special, and whenever they were just together being themselves. I have a fond memory of the two of them measuring out and cutting a piece of one-inch rope before tieing those grotty old lengths around their waists in place of belts. I've no idea why that occured in the first instance, but I also remember that it became part of their kilted attire for several years, my uncle hanging a sporran from his bit of rope and my father never with a sporran in those same times. My father had a French clasp knife he always informally wore in place of a sgian dubh and I treasure that knife still, although I don't carry it as he did.

But these two men, who looked so much alike, were more than just grand on formal occasions (they both wore Montrose jackets and jabots with lots of silver in their middle years and slipped away into more portly attire as they aged) and I've a super memory of my mother reaching up to kiss my father's cheek, wiping her lipstick from it with her dampened hankie, laughing and putting her forefinger to his chest just before they left for some gala event one evening when I was fourteen or fifteen.

My uncle had a truly awful red tweed jacket with a hole in one sleeve that he seemed always to be wearing when I was in my impressionable years.

I was at school in the Highlands and wore the kilt for tramping, for Sunday service and for Sunday afternoon visiting, although I was rarely there for that. Late Sunday morning I was collected and taken off to my cousins' for dinner and afternoons in wellies always too high for me. I still have scars across the back of both knees from wet afternoons.

I have no memories of critique and correcting as do Jock and Sandy and perhaps that was due to living in two parts of the world. Today, although my bother and I have always understood the traditions of our culture, we tend to be a tad more unconventional, depending on where we are in the world.

It is wonderful to be part of the forum and hear the tales of anxiety that some live through in their early kilted days, the enormous fog that arises from murky theories and eye-rolling myths, and the stunning wonder expressed when members realise the great comfort of wearing what is comfortable to wear.

As Sandy said of himelf, I have been kilted all my klife and there has not been any time in my memory when the wearing of Highland dress has been uncomfortable for me. These days I wear what I want to and is appropriate to the occasion. Today was Canada Day and this evenng we attended a garden party at which I wore a short-sleeved shirt, a maple leaf Tewkesbury kilt, an Artificer beaver sporran, my wife's superbly knitted hose, a pair of soft black Rockport shoes, knotted yellow garter ties and a lovely little pewter beaver kilt pin with big teeth. And a bone and old steel sgian dhubh.

Tomorrow I hope to spend a good portion of the day, weather permitting, in the garden and will probably wear my favourite Freedom kilt for that. In the evening Ruth and I will attend a formal Swiss consular dinner and for that I will be dressed in PC et al.