Well I went to the Tate Modern yesterday. I didn't see Hiker but it's a big place. By Tate Modern standards, I think my dress (black kilt, trainers, shoulder bag) was seen as quite conservative, and I needn't have finished my outfit off with an ultra-masculine black teeshirt. No-one batted an eyelid and everyone talked to me perfectly normally. For a time I tagged along with a group being lectured, so I actually got to understand a few surrealistic and abstract exhibits better. I travelled lots on the Underground (subway) and had a good look round Covent Garden Market. No one made any direct comment to me all day in London. I did overhear a conversation between an English man and his Scots wife behind me, though:
H: "He's wearing a kilt"
W: "Aye"
H: "Does your dad wear a kilt sometimes?"
W:"Naw, just at weddings and that"
H: "It's not tartan though."
W:"Naw, some of them are nae"
I may be wrong, but I read this as:
H: "I would like to wear a kilt too."
W:"I'm not keen on the idea."
If this thought is repeated enough, maybe the idea will get through in the end.
I made sure I wasn't around when the after-dark drinking started though, and quit while I was winning.
Capital Kilted Trip Report
-
cessna152towser
- Member Extraordinaire
- Posts: 664
- Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2006 12:14 am
- Location: Scottish Borders
- Contact:
Great trip report. With hindsight maybe I should have worn a kilt on one of my trips to London last year when I photographed the Routemaster buses for my website. So far the furthest south I've been in a kilt is York, but may take one with me to Sussex in June.
Please view my photos of kilts and skirts, old trains, vintage buses and classic aircraft on http://www.flickr.com/photos/cessna152towser/
What's that, then - did it have a picture of a penis on the front, or something?!skirttron wrote:an ultra-masculine black teeshirt
BTW, here's a nice 'macho' diversion:
Metal Gear Awesome
Shame you can't get a Flash animation on a tee-shirt!
Dom
Skirttron,
Sorry I missed you. I didn't get to the Tate Modern until about 3:30 stayed until 7:30. My basic travel for Saturday was. Leicester Square to St. Martin's in the Fields, Gordon's wine bar, did some shopping, lost - accidently ended up at King's Cross rather than St Paul's Cathedral after walking some considerable distance. I know its hard to imagine someone could get this lost but I did. Decided to do the British National Library for an hour, walked back to the Tate Modern, arrived 3:30 - departed 7:30. Visited Coventry gardens, dinner at Wagamama, back to Paddington and my hotel. I did see one other man in a kilt (tartan) outside of Leicester Square, but he wasn't you and was surprised to see a non tartan kilt but happy to talk.
Sorry I missed you. I didn't get to the Tate Modern until about 3:30 stayed until 7:30. My basic travel for Saturday was. Leicester Square to St. Martin's in the Fields, Gordon's wine bar, did some shopping, lost - accidently ended up at King's Cross rather than St Paul's Cathedral after walking some considerable distance. I know its hard to imagine someone could get this lost but I did. Decided to do the British National Library for an hour, walked back to the Tate Modern, arrived 3:30 - departed 7:30. Visited Coventry gardens, dinner at Wagamama, back to Paddington and my hotel. I did see one other man in a kilt (tartan) outside of Leicester Square, but he wasn't you and was surprised to see a non tartan kilt but happy to talk.
Hey Hiker,
When I crossed the Millennium bridge on the way out of the Tate Modern, there was a rather amateurish, but kilt-wearing, piper about halfway across. I arrived at the Tate Modern about 1:45pm I think and our paths must amost have crossed. At least some of the staff in the Tate Modern will have seen two non-tartan kilted men in one day. I found this cosmopolitan part of London great for kilt-wearing - so much that it is off my scale of kilt-friendliness.
When I crossed the Millennium bridge on the way out of the Tate Modern, there was a rather amateurish, but kilt-wearing, piper about halfway across. I arrived at the Tate Modern about 1:45pm I think and our paths must amost have crossed. At least some of the staff in the Tate Modern will have seen two non-tartan kilted men in one day. I found this cosmopolitan part of London great for kilt-wearing - so much that it is off my scale of kilt-friendliness.
Skirtron and any others,
I'll be back in the UK this week and will be in Cambridge and Bristol in the early part and in London Friday and Saturday. You want to try to get together at the Tate sometime on Saturday? We should pick a time and an exhibit so we don't miss each other this time. I'm not bringing any kilts on this trip, just skirts.
Hiker
I'll be back in the UK this week and will be in Cambridge and Bristol in the early part and in London Friday and Saturday. You want to try to get together at the Tate sometime on Saturday? We should pick a time and an exhibit so we don't miss each other this time. I'm not bringing any kilts on this trip, just skirts.
Hiker