Archive for the ‘Highland Games’ Category

“Shut That Door”

Monday, August 1st, 2011

Oban-Craignure Ferry

Have you ever had one of those weeks when life feels like an episode of the generation game… like everyday someone is repeatedly throwing a bucket of water in your face, whilst you run on a treadmill backwards with your shoelaces tied together.

Well myself and the pirate starred with Larry Grayson in one of those episodes last week.
Some people call it summer break, their vacation, taking it easy. We in the Urban Pirate household call it the week during the summer when something goes wrong.

Having had a busy start to 2011 we decided to give ourselves some time off, a wee trip to Mull…lovely.

Thermal y-fronts packed, we set off to Oban for our ferry. Using David’s crimbo present of Sat Nav, we typed in our destination and headed West ,safe in the knowledge that our route would be dictated to us by a wee wifie that lives in the little box stuck to the dashboard.

Many things happened on the road to Mull, but what follows is the abridged version.

We went the wrong way ( note we ALWAYS go the wrong way, this is an common element of the Pirates approach to driving).

We crashed. Yip that’s right, crashed. All thanks to a horrid little man who shall remain nameless who did an emergency stop coz he saw a tea room sign..

Imagine major bleeped out swearing at this point.

We called the AA who sent a local mechanic, and the car was unofficially declared a “right off”. However, apparently, it was still fit to drive.

So, outcame the parcel tape which was not so lovingly placed around the broken headlamps which set off nicely the now ripped apart front grill and somewhat crushed bonnet. The Pirate was nearly greetin’, I however stuck with barking expletives.

We finally got to Oban and caught our ferry

We arrived, found campsite unpacked.  Discovered that a mould spore the size of Australia had developed on Airbed.  Turned airbed around. Found that batteries were dead so slept on bumpy ground…Not good when one already has their own bumps if you get my drift.

However……we did despite all odds, we had a fabulous week off, more so because our phones, internet and the rest failed miserably.

All we were left with was the view and what a view it was. Regardless of how many times I holiday in Scotland, it never dissapoints.

Who needs the Algarve when you have Calgary Beach eh.
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View of Calgary Beach

Croft, Isle of Ulva

Our lodgings for the week

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Stones of Density

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Chaterault..Shaterolt…Chaterall. arrhhh I’m hoping that if I say it enough times I might just pronounce it right.

Yes, I’m talking the Highland Games at Chatelherault House in Hamilton. I’m ashamed to say that I grew up 10 miles from this place and yet had never heard of it till Sunday!

Well, I have now…..for some pleasant reasons and some…well some not so good.

The day started off well.. We got up, had breakfast, got there and got the marquee up. All that without having a fight( I say fight, but it’s what the pirate refers to as my “hunger anger”.. It’s what happens when I don’t eat within twenty minutes of opening my eyes. I’ve been known to bite.

We got set up, sat back and admired our rather gorgeous table display!(tho don’t tell the Pirate..he likes to think himself more rock and roll than “table display”!)..

I then ticked off a personal “meet your hero” box by bumping into Hamish the heavy events commentator from the World Pipe Bands… Hamish famously once said whilst describing Sebastian a rather enormous Polish Athlete, that he was the “biggest tosser in Europe” as he made his second throw in the caber contest….Alas, this unconscious humour was lost on the visiting crowd, but I had a knowing smile as i chatted to Hamish on Sunday!

Feeling a little sleepy, I then went for a little nap in the back of the Uncle Buck mobile..aka the Estate…..My sleep despite shared by a rotting “magic tree” air-freshner and Davids trainers was lovely. I awoke refreshed(pine scented) and ready for a days hard trading.. But wait… a problem…the tiny little issue of having to get out of the boot of the car. It hadn’t actually occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to get out(having never been a hostage of any political significance). I hadn’t planned for this. No problem I thought, I have my phone.. I’ll call David who was a mere 6 ft away in the tent.. I rang him.. 6 TIMES …voicemail… Admittedly I had started to panic a little at this point but then, I saw it, my escape route. I made my way to the front of the car and out a passenger door…..disaster averted.

Feeling quite smug with my newly found escapology skills I made my way into the tent…Only to trip over the hanging rail, skid along the grass and end up with my hand in a pile of excrement….I have no shame in telling you that I started to cry…more so when David came back into the tent and found me with a skint leg, a bruise and my right hand covered in what I can only describe as an agricultural jobby. Lets just say I’ve looked more attractive.

But I digress…the games themselves were fun..lots of big heavies literally throwing their weight about and a (very) unusual display of on-land fly fishing by a lovely wee man in a hat….Unfortunately his head mic wasn’t working so it was more Freddie Star than Paul Young. All in all a nice wee Sunday….Thanks for having us Chatelherault! x

Scaring customers away at Chatelherault!

Couldn't resist this pic

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Season 1….and beyond

Friday, September 10th, 2010

Urban Pirate has made it through its first Highland Games season, which has not been without its ups and downs….the road to Glen Urquhart in particular.

It looked like all was lost before it even began, when the van, purchased specifically for the highland games travelling, decided to die….timing belt snapped. For those that don’t know, if a timing belt goes in a diesel engine then its tie to get an new engine……result….scrap. Bugger…. Thankfully due to an incredibly generous donation from a family member we managed to get back on the road. Saved!!!

One thing to be said about attending the highland games, the locations and views were always stunning, regardless the weather. In-fact, Lochearnhead was pretty “wet” and misty and made everything more mystical. On the other hand, Perth and Southside Festival there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and I have the tan-lines to prove it.

This years Piping Championships was a massive step up from last years attempt, people really digging the new t-shirts and bags. So much so someone decided to walk off with one of the t-shirts…..he was quickly apprehended by our chief of security….. The event was a record breaker with well over than 50,000 people attending, a fair chunk of that may well have been the pipers families….its like each group have a diva-like entourage. The weather was perfect for the pipes too, though strangely my ears weren’t ringing for days afterwards.

We have made many new friends, bother fellow traders and customers, from our little “tour”. A big thank you to everyone who came by to say hello. I’m looking forward to next years already which promises to be bigger and better.

Still, keep your eyes pealed for new designs and products which will be hitting the online shop soon. Also watch out for new stockists for Urban Pirate products which will be added to the “Stockist” section of the site.

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Donde the Pipes?

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

After the  gazebo debacle, we thought, thats it….things will be on the up,  but then it happened, something else.

It came in the form of BurntIsland Highland Games.  Let me set the scene.

When you think of Highland Games, like me I’m sure you think of clans coming together – drinking usige beatha from a  quaich.   Flashes of tartan against a backdrop of heather covered hills. The haunting sound of pipes travelling through the pea soup mist.       Well, let me tell you,  like me you would have been disapointed.

It rained…it rained a lot.   There were a lot of grown men wearing tracksuit trousers with dress shoes(can some one explain that look to me please).  We were put in a pitch beside a man selling bath-towel sets who claimed they had been designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh himself!  Now, I’m no Mackintosh expert, however I am fairly positive that in between designing Glasgow School of Art his masterpiece and Hill House, Charlie was not sitting in front of his drawing board pondering which designs would look good on the side of an avocado bathroom suite.

Burntisland just wasn’t how I remembered it as a child.  School trips on hot June days, screaming on the waltzers and eating chopped pork sandwiches washed down by irn bru warmed at the bottom of my school bag.

Some of the stalls were doing great business; unfortunately we weren’t selling sweets, candy floss, Mackintosh Bath Towels, inflatable hammers…or pedi-eggs.  But heh there’s always next year!

To top it all off, when coming back(depressed) from the loo at the end of the day (they charged me 30p wot happened to spend a penny!)….I managed to slip on the muddy path of the links and fall face first in the mud. A few lovely boys came to my aid but it was too late.  I was covered from the waist down in good old Fife mud and not in a sexy  lady wrestling sense.

However, we won’t be beaten..We will be back on the road this weekend stronger and annoyingly more enthusiastic than ever!      Stopping off at Lochearnhead and Airth on Sat and St Andrews on Sunday…  If you are around, please come and say hello…meeting people is the best bit of this whole thing……Let’s hope the sun shines!  Jacq x

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Gourock Highland Games

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Well my first event of the year has been and gone, all in all it went rather well.

Ok so I’ll not be giving up the day job just yet, though I would need to get a day job to give up first, but I think I did ok for my first crack of the whip.

The day started at 6.30 am when I decided to get up, with the aid of my girlfriend, and make a move. Had to load all the stuff into the spanky new van….well new to me. True to form it didnt run smoothly. I found out that the clothing rail, which I had  to purchase specifically for the event (I was given other rails, but my nephew would have been able to blow them over) wouldnt fit into the van….aahhh panic! It was too long by about an inch….redonkalus!!  I managed to fix sed problem by removing one of the sides/legs, even then its a tight fit, just as well that I dont mind about scratches….

The journey then began, took only 20 mins to get to Gourock, iPod told me it would be 44 with traffic…..liar!! So we were miles ahead of schedule. Set up at the event in no time as well, so we ended up having a good few hours to kill. Nothing really kicked off until around 12, and no-one really started visiting the stalls till 1.

There were the same faces passing rather often, so I was starting to lose hope a bit on whether I was going to sell anything, I had sold some t-shirts and bags to the stall holders next to me which was nice, so at least it wasnt going to be a total waste of time. The parents then turned up, complete with sandwiches….which was very much needed as hadnt really eaten anything other than breakfast. they bought a few items which was nice, if you cant even sell to your own parents you gotta be doing something wrong!!

The entertainment

Around 3 things started to pick up!! Yay!! Bags were going, badges were selling and people were commenting on the t-shirts. Only sold a few of my Seconds Map t-shirt (thats a whole other story) but people were liking the Creamola foam prints. The crowd pleasers (pictured above) were doing a good few rounds and seemed very interested in the stall. Thoroughly nice people. :D

There was plenty going on around the event, heavy events, pipers…..alot of them and highland dancers. Everything I guess you would expect at a highland games I guess. I keep forgetting how MASSIVE the heavy events guys are. Built like brick houses!! My aim for this year is to have one of them, at any games, to buy a t-shirt from my “Urban Heavy Events” range. (Ok theres only two of them at the moment…but I’m working on more)

In the end it was a great day, and a very good test for my first event. the next one will hopefully be even better.

I’ll be at the Southside Festival on the 22nd May, my next Highland Games is in Cornhill, up near Banff and Macduff. So will be a very early morning for that one…..

My advertising crew

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