I have just returned from a holiday in Malta -- another Mediterranean country has now been exposed to modern kilts* – though, presumably, a generation ago, the British military kilt was not an unfamiliar sight on the island.

A few amusing moments:
A Scot who congratulated me for wearinga kilt; he said he hadn't the courage to do so!
Some French tourists in a museum, assuming I knew no French, exchanged comments such as "what about when the wind blows" and "when he's at the top of the stairs and you're at the bottom" and "just bend down and pretend to pick something up". No doubt about what they were talking about. Much was their surprise when I called over, in French, "well, if you really want to know…" A moment of silence, then we all had a good laugh.

Plenty of people turned to look, several simply asked if I was Scottish, and as usual, a number of adolescent girls gave way to fits of giggles. The vast majority of people I actually spoke to acted as if I was dressed the same way as everyone else.

There's a picture of the cotton Usakilt I wore visiting some of the remarkable Neolithic sites, and a homemade one with pockets was fine for some cliff walking and clambering over rocky shores in the sun, but, most of the time, it was so chilly I preferred my woollen breacan.

Martin,
now home again,
in Grenoble, France.

http//erso.wanadoo.fr/scots.in.france/usakilt in Malta.jpg

* the others being Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey in the last year or two.