Posts Tagged ‘Highland Games’

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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Posted in Highland Games | 1 Comment »

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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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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Brand new t-shirts.

Friday, March 19th, 2010
Urban Pirate Label

Its official!!

So I’ve finally done it, I’ve made my own t-shirts. I’ll be selling these at the stalls during my tour of Highland Games.

I’ve only got 2 designs made up in bulk just now (all my other designs are made to order). I’ve got 35 of each designs made up, but I will be getting more….just need to sell the ones I’ve got…and get more hours/websites to do. I’ve got plenty designs planned, nothing short of ideas.

You can buy the t-shirts on my website right now!!

caber tosser t-shirt

The Duke

The Duke close up

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Man with a van..

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

With my ever growing imagination and ambition (be it a false hope or not…) it became apparent that I was in some serious need of decent transport. Having sold the car to “we buy any car”….which apparently they do,  the thing had a snowballs chance in hell in passing its next MOT poor sod for the next person to pick up that death trap….

Anyway, I had no form of transport and I’d be buggered if I was going to take the public transport with the hunners of stuff that I’d be dragging around with me. So the decision was made to buy a van which type of van depended on one thing….the cost. Thankfully I had managed to get a few websites built to put into the “Van Fund”. With the aid of my father I manged to get my hands on a wee Citroen Berlingo. Its ten years old and had a few wee niggles but on the whole it was sound.

Within two days of owning it I end up getting a chip on the windshield!! Bugger!! However going on past records with my cars and parking them where I live I decided to go fully comp, so I’ll be able to get the windscreen fixed without having to pay much if anything at all!! YAY!!

So the next step it to now pimp out the bad boy and make it less like a post van and more like a flaming Valkyrie!! I shall keep you posted, along with photos when it gets pimped…..just keep Westwood away from it…….

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Posted in The Biz | 2 Comments »