My first 'casual' kilted outing, and my first 'question'

[sjrapid]

Just thought I'd report back on my first 'casual' outing whilst kilted.

I've had my trad 9-yard tank (16-oz Gunn Modern, by Alex Scott of Aberdeen) since late last year, and I've worn it when attending formal dinners with my wife. In this situation, I wear it with a black Prince Charlie, dress sprorran, the full works, to nothing but good comments. I've also worn it less formally to a couple of ceilidhs, again with nothing but good results.

This week, feeling rather down, I thought I'd cheer myself up by wearing the kilt 'casually' whilst shopping. So I drove myself to our local Sainsburys (Greenwich - the one they keep using in the TV adverts) clad in the kilt, a black button-down shirt and a black day sporran, hiking boots and black hose in the 'scrunched doon' position.

First reaction, 5 yards inside the door was from one of the shelf-stackers, a guy called Dean, who literally exploded: 'Wow man! Wicked!' - I had a good conversation with him for a few minutes - Yes, it's a scottish kilt. Where did it come from? Scotland! Was it expensive? Well, kind of! And so on. The best bit was 'I wish I had my phone with me so I could get a picture with you...'

I really enjoyed the double-takes, mostly from women on the way round the store. Just smile and keep on walking - most people will smile back at you.

I had two other conversations as I shopped. one was from a girl behand the deli counter who asked 'if the thing about underwear was true...' while her supervisor went nearly puce with embarassment.

The other conversation was with the checkout operator, who commented 'Nice kilt - but isn't it cold?' so we had a conversation about how warm nine yards of wool wrapped round your torso can be. She said that she'd seen kilts on TV, but never seen one worn in real life, and was amazed at the complexity and the detail of the pleatwork.

Also, I can vouch for how practical and comfortable shopping in a kilt is. I'm 6ft tall, so I squat down to get items from the lower shelves *n* times as I'm going round. You don't notice how awkward this is in trousers until they're not there! Also, I found it much easier to keep my billfold and change handy in the sporran than to have it banging against my thigh and be digging for it in deep trouser pockets.

So why am I telling you all this? To report that I've broken my 'casual' duck, and to encourage any other X-Markers out there who haven't broken out of the 'formal/ceilidh/highland games' position yet to do so. Most people are positive, and you'll have conversations with people you'd never otherwise speak to, so go for it.

Here's to the power of the kilt!

Best regards