anyone going to Queen Mary today?

[OC Richard]

I'm about to start getting ready for the trip to Long Beach for the Games at the Queen Mary today. Any other XMarkers going to be there?

My band isn't playing so for me it's a rare opportunity to just hang out.

I'll be wearing my Isle of Skye kilt, vintage goathair sporran, blue hose, and dull green tweed kilt jacket. Oh and probably a WVU cap!

[OC Richard]

I went to The Queen Mary yesterday and the way the Games were organized was a mess. My understanding is that the Games people have little or no control over it, and the problems are due to the company that runs the boat.

They hired swarms of security people. One problem is that once you have entered the Games you cannot leave! It was chilly in the morning but got very warm later, and I was about to go out the gate to go put my jacket in my car. But the half-dozen security people at the gate said that if I left I would have to buy a new ticket to come back. In nearly 40 years of attending Highland Games this is the first time I've seen a Games do this.

Also, there was a security guy posted between the main section of the Games and the area where the solo piping was held, and he wasn't letting people pass between the two areas. He said that yes, I could go listen to the solo piping, but I wouldn't be able to come back! I would have to exit the grounds through a different gate and purchase a new ticket to get back in.

These ridiculous strictures by the way only applied to people who had purchased tickets to get into the Games. Participants (vendors, competitors, performers) were given handstamps and could pass about freely, but the security people wouldn't give handstamps to us poor attendees.

At a time when Games complain about low attendance, the Queen Mary Games are shooting themselves in the foot by making the Games very difficult for the people paying the bill.