The great Scottish Adventure - Suprise Follow-up

[Chas]

An incident happened at the Hawick Highland Games on the Sunday. A small trivial little thing which, once it had happened, I immediately forgot. It was not till days after I got back that it all came flooding back.

So there I was, in my tent, dispensing advice and knowledge and an elderly gentleman approaches. He is wearing a suit with matching shirt and tie. He looks, for all the world like a country gentleman visiting the local country show. He would not look amiss judging the livestock.

As he came up to the tent, one thing I noticed - he had a leg missing. In the breeze, I could clearly see his trouser leg blowing against the aluminium shaft.

He started talking to me about kilts and kilt wearing in general. And how he wore a kilt every day until last year but now he has to wear trousers and still can't get used to it. He went on to explain how he had also been a lifelong smoker and now suffers from narrowing of the arteries. Had I noticed his missing leg? No, I politely said. He explained about lack of blood supply and gangrene and emergency operations to remove the leg and save his life.

He showed me the bright shiny pole where his leg had been. I must admit that at this point I was thinking very negative thoughts - along the lines of "Am I a magnet for these people?"

Suddenly it was "Have you got a card?" Yes, I do and passed one over. "Oh, but there is no address - I want to send you something." Address was hastily scribbled on the back and off he went.

I thought no more about it.

On the Friday after returning, my wife brings in the post and hands me a padded envelope. My address and no return address. I open it and find this:



A close up:



And from the front:



No note, no address, nothing, except for a very beautiful full face muskrat (musquash). The sporran has spoken to me, as only a sporran can, and tells me his name is Aloysius Muskrat of that Ilk. Who am I to doubt it?

To whoever you are, my unknown benefactor, I can only say a huge thank you. I will treasure this for a very long time indeed.

Regards from a very humble

Chas

[CMcG]

WOW!!!!

Just wow!

[FatherWilliam57]

Makes the day a little bit brighter, doesn't it? Thanks for sharing!

[castledangerous]

it would be a shame if he thought he had to wear trousers because of the leg, was that it?

[Cygnus]

Congratulations! That is a lovely sporran.

it would be a shame if he thought he had to wear trousers because of the leg, was that it?

I've heard it said that one should wear trews if missing a leg, though I had a great uncle with a wooden leg, and it looked real enough. He used to sit next to the little kids and complain that his socks kept falling down. He would then produce a small box of thumb tacks and push them through the sock and into his wooden leg, much to the horror of the children.

I think he could have worn a kilt quite well.

The moral of the story? Why wear flashes or garters, when thumb tacks will do!

[MacBean]

a bittersweet story

[Chas]

it would be a shame if he thought he had to wear trousers because of the leg, was that it?

That was certainly the impression I got. The leg was missing from the above the knee. He walked with a bit of a rolling gait and if one didn't know, I suppose most would have put it down to his age.

Regards

Chas

[cessna152towser]

Great story, Chas, that was so kind of the gent to send you such a fine sporran.

[chewse]

Nice! Great story. Definitely bittersweet....

[WillieMacG]

Great story. Outstanding Sporran!