A Balmoral problem...

[Panache]

Yes absolutely the tweed bucket hat is an option, particularly when the weather is bad and there is no other option.

LOL!

Jamie

[OC Richard]

I just ordered a new navy blue Balmoral from http://www.glengarryhats.com and sent a note to get a black pom instead of red. Ian is great to work with and was able to accommodate my request.

I used to work at a Highland Outfitter back in the 1980s and we carried Robert Mackie bonnets.

Balmorals came, as standard, in navy blue with a scarlet touree, and black with a black touree. In all those years I never saw a navy blue one with a matching touree, or a black one with a scarlet touree.

Seems like they regarded the black Balmorals more or less like their Lovat blue, Lovat green, and fawn ones: the tourees matched the bonnet colour.

Ditto Glengarries, they came in navy blue and black. Trouble is for Pipe Bands is that the two are difficult to distinguish other than in bright outdoor light, so to this day practically every Pipe Band on earth wears a mix of the two, the scourge of band Equipment Managers worldwide.

[OC Richard]

Yes absolutely the tweed bucket hat is an option, particularly when the weather is bad and there is no other option.

Trouble is, here in the US Southwest the weather is "bad" all the time: brutal sun most of the time, and rain the days it's not sunny. A bucket hat takes care of both problems nicely.

Yours truly with the bucket hat option:



But the vast majority of the time here the problem is the sun. Here are some of us at the Sacramento (California) Games with the "tilley" hat option:



Being a piper at Highland Games is bad, due to having to wear a Glengarry whenever the band is playing, and getting your face and ears and neck burnt. I'm sure not going to endure that when I don't have to!

[MacRob]

I recently discovered that my fiancée who is not a fan of the Balmoral, snipped the torries off of my two balmorals because she felt they looked too much like I belong on a golf course. Thank goodness they were not higher end balmorals like Robert Mackie's, but needless to say I'm left with a dilemma. I can get a new balmoral which may suffer the same fate. I can wear the balmorals as they are, or I can look for alternative headgear for when I wear the kilt. What would you folks recommend?

If the invitations have not been sent you can always call the thing off you know!

[NPG]

If the invitations have not been sent you can always call the thing off you know!

I would say I'm rather partial to her, I'd rather go without head wear than without my soon to be wife. Perhaps that's true love?

[GrainReaper]

I would say I'm rather partial to her, I'd rather go without head wear than without my soon to be wife. Perhaps that's true love?

Or perhaps you weren't that fond of that bonnet

[NPG]

Or perhaps you weren't that fond of that bonnet

Well it is just a bonnet... it keeps my head dry and warm, but a good woman can be so much more.

[Jock Scot]

Well it is just a bonnet... it keeps my head dry and warm, but a good woman can be so much more.

They can? Er -----um-----I mean, can they? No, hold on a second, I mean, they can.

[Geoff Withnell]

If Mrs. Jock Scot reads the forum, I would say you just dodged a bullet, Jock!

[Jock Scot]

If Mrs. Jock Scot reads the forum, I would say you just dodged a bullet, Jock!

Mrs. Jock does indeed keep an eye on this forum from time to time and I have got quite used to the sound of an incoming pillow overtime, the trouble is that my reactions are a tad slower nowadays and diving for the slit trench behind the sofa is not as easy as it once was and getting out again even more so!