Gentlemen, polish your shoes

[Dall_Piobaire]

You have a right to your opinion as Jock has a right to his!

A "Highland games" based on a clan gethering is a traditional event, an event that, it was my impression, was supposed to celebrate our ancestry, and it's traditions. It shold be a way of preserving what was, and could slip very easily into a memory.

If you want a Renn Faire, go to a Renn Faire. If you want a Highland games then do your best to make them a "Highland games" in the proper sense of what is intended.

Sure tradtions change and morph, but is that always a good thing?
Many people wear the kilt because they want a unique identity, and that is for the very reason that you stay, we don't have a unique identity, ours is one of all the natins the built our countries into what they are! So, because it was one hundred, two hundred, or a thousand years ago, gothry about it right!

No, you show respect by keeping tradition alive, and you respect that tradition in the best way you are able. You are your past my friend, yoiu are your parents, and their parents before them.

Lose your past, and you looe a big piece of who you are.

[Colonel MacNeal]

The red tartan looks great - which one is that?

Arriving at the 2009 Kansas City Highland games I had brush shined brown shoes and after the rain and mud from the previous night they were no longer polished, sorry.

I think that you can catch a slight shine off my left shoe?


However, later that night I switched kilts and changed to black boots and when I returned to my motel the boots were no longer black but two toned brown and black.

As you can see some shoes and boots do not take to polish too well and given certain conditions at the games many people will forgo their Burns shoes for well the Burns dinner and not get all muddy at the games, and as you can see none of us were wearing running shoes, sandals or Crocs.

[Rogerson785]

Having joined the Army at 17 and being issued Non-Patent Leather low quarters I had to learn how to get a well polished shoe for inspections etc... during the course of many years I occasionally applied these techniques to my civilian boots or shoes that required a shine as well.

I will not go over the finer points of a spit shine because I doubt that there is anyone out there with that amount of time to devote to shining their shoes. However, I will discuss the finer points of achieving the great shine that we would get with water, cotton balls, cold water and Kiwi by CHEATING.

1. Apply the shoe polish and buff with horsehair brush. I still have my original from 1985.

2. Once the shoe has been brushed and possibly polished with a clean rag set the shoes aside to prepare your application area.

3. The first product I ever used was Future liquid floor wax that was applied with a single cotton ball to the heel and toes of my combat boots. This was is great and produces a nice protective finish. You will have to apply more during the course of the week if you are marching etc...

4. The second product that I discovered was quite by accident but it works so well. I had done a custom tile shower in my bathroom and some of the tiles were banded squat rocks that needed to be shiny. TileLab Gloss Sealer & Finish is a milky white liquid that will transform your shoes to almost Patent leather parade shoes. The application process is the same as the Future floor wax.

5. The final product is by Armor All and it is called Extreme Tire Shine, and you simply spray it on a rag or directly onto your shoe and bingo, instant shine, but that is only if you have a good base coat to start with. You could also use the Armor All wipes if you are in a rush.

[Dall_Piobaire]

I never thought of floor wax, brilliant, literally and figuratively!

Great ideas, thanks

[Dall_Piobaire]

most Scottish highland games are purely for tourists so i don't see the issue here
cmon lads get a grip here there is far more inportant things in life than whether such and such shoes have a sheen to them

Good points all, and well said! I think the shine of the shoe was more a jumping off point.

[Panache]

Folks,

I have never been to Scotland but having had long chats with those who have I must concede that highland games are very different things there as opposed to Canada and the USA

I ask the Scots on XMTS to realize that here in North America highland games are not just about athletic competition, but a celebration of Scotland and things Celtic.

They are a nexus of Scottish heavy athletics, Highland dance, Scottish Country Dance, Scottish Music, traditional crafts, Scottish foods, Scottish
apparel, the connection we have with our roots, and all things Celtic

Whether one is interested in history, music, dance, food, shopping, heritage, athletics, craftsmanship or some combination of all the above our games in North America provide what you are looking for.

They are a Scottish and Celtic heritage celebration

They are going to be different than a highland games held in Scotland that is going to be more about the athletic competition.

This is neither good nor bad

Only different

Isn't it wonderful that the tradition of highland games has spread beyond Scotland?

Isn't it wonderful that this tradition continues?

Let's accept there are differences and embrace the wonder of diversity

Here in the USA I can say that those that attend a highland games can find all manner of fun and informative things

They aren't perfect, but most are able to find that that speaks to them.

So let's be happy they exist and continue, hopefully thrive and stop quibbling about what is done there or here.

Just an idea





So getting back to the subject at hand...

I believe firmly in making sure one's shoes look nice at the start of each day

Being seen at the end of a highland games with one's shoes covered in dust simply says that you walked the games and enjoyed them.

Being seen at the beginning of a highland games with one's shoes covered in dust says that you aren't willing to put in the extra effort.

I'm not going to hold it against those that don't bother with their shoes but to me a gentleman always tries his best to keep his appearance neat

Cheers

Jamie :ootd:

[bigdad1]

Well said Jamie. Perhaps our Highland Games are ultimately merely an excuse to gather together to see old friends, to meet new friends, and just to have fun. Some things really aren't that complicated. A party may just be a party regardless of the theme. I have seen you dressed as a pirate but haven't seen any posts from descendants of Blackbeard complaining about your authenticity.

[ForresterModern]

You have described a Highland games that we are familiar with here in Scotland very well. Some of the smaller games may not be quite so formal though. Whilst you chaps across the Atlantic have your own style of a highland games( and why not?) they do seem to so very far removed from the original idea. I look at the pictures of North American games in wonderment and complete disbelief. In truth, I find it all rather disappointing that "our" heritage has been cheapened so. Harsh words? Some will think so, I am sure, but I can't help but feel, with the greatest of respect, that it is time for the USA, Canada and probably some of the rest of the world to get their own identity, culture and stop cheapening other more established cultures and in this case, Scotland's. Let me point out that I am fully aware that the tourist industry over the last 100 years, or so, has done its best to cheapen Scotland's heritage too.

I realise full well, that some of you will be upset with what I am saying, but try to look at it from the other side and maybe, just maybe you will see my point, even if you do not completely agree with me!

Jock,

I think the difference has little to do with cheapening heritage----more like broadening its base and therefore changing it into a PART of our own here in the states. Probably the biggest reason for the differences between the "games" here in the states and those in the homeland relates to who the intended audience is in each case. In Scotland it is obviously intended for Scots, and the occasional tourist such as myself, and the Scots follow their own traditions because it is precisely theirs to uphold, and that is natural for it to be that way. In the states, the audience is not only those of Scots heritage but other people from other cultures who bring their own flavor to the crowd, and in turn may begin to absorb some of that scots heritage and make it their own. But as time goes by the "games" alter themselves to meet the needs and desires of the audience, now not just scots but a much broader base with an interest in scottish heritage but not necessarily an investment in it to anywhere near the same degree as a native scot would. I think it is a natural outcome of this melting pot of a country we call the United States. Cultures merge and meld and are changed in their practices here as the population simultaneously merges and melds. Hence the games have morphed from the traditional scots highland games to one a bit more international in flavor, and not so recognizable to you who know the true way it has been for many years there.

No disrespect taken, and none intended, but that is the way America works.


jeff :ootd:

[JSFMACLJR]

Yes Jock our games in the U.S. are different than yours in Scotland. We are a different country. And we do things differently. If you think your games are the same as you had 200 years ago I fear you are mistaken. Traditions from various countries are carried to new countries by those who resettle in those new countries. And just as folk stories change from teller to teller so to do things such as Highland Games. I think it is beyond rude for you to chastise us for not standing up to your personal mark of excellence. Times change and traditions change. If you wish to go back to William Wallace then by all means go for it but please don't set your own petty rules for we here in the United States or for that matter anyone else in Scotland. It isn't your right and it isn't right.

Wow! Aren't you just a little too excited about this?

If Jock cannot voice his opinion because he isn't an American, than I will! I agree with what my friend wrote. I will be glad to "chastise" you for failing to understand another's point of view, and getting on that America First charger you're riding on and riding blindly into the fray.

My "personal mark of excellence" is very high, my friend, and what I see at many of the games I attend does not meet my standards. I actually get embarrassed at some games! I am especially embarrassed for the clan chiefs who so kindly come over here to attend our games and "wave the flag," as it were. It is rather nauseating to see the American pseudo-Scots in their interpretation of Highland dress fawning over a noble chief, bowing and scraping and getting all in a tizzy.

When Jock Scot posted his opinion, I wondered to myself how long it would take for some enraged XMarker to play the "please don't set your own petty rules for we here in the United States" gambit. Not very long, bigdad1.

[Rex_Tremende]

I am especially embarrassed for the clan chiefs who so kindly come over here to attend our games and "wave the flag," as it were. It is rather nauseating to see the American pseudo-Scots in their interpretation of Highland dress fawning over a noble chief, bowing and scraping and getting all in a tizzy.

Why do the chiefs come then? Are they embarrassed to be there, too?

As for getting back on topic, I was just happy to come home with dry shoes, to say nothing of them being shined, but then again, I didn't bring any that required much of a shine.

Regards,
Rex.