The kilt cannot be universally accepted

[Jimmy]

I can't help feeling there's a lot of nonsense here.
I am in Russia now, and have worn it since I arrived. (now more than once).
Impoverished it certainly is, in the border region I cross from the Baltic States to Leningradski region, but it's the most comfortable clothing known, so what do I care?

People are usually very polite or even enthusiastic and it's a sort of passport to make people speak English to me (including in the bus ferrying us from the terminal to the plane).

I was met at the airport in St Petersburg check in counter by the most incredible smile from the pretty Russian girl who checked me in.
she said WOW, "that is beautiful!
I always dreamed of buying or wearing a kilt like that!"

I just turned around and said "well you work for an airline, just tell them to put you on a flight to Edinburgh and go do some shopping".

Russians are a bit taken aback by a fairly bright and clearly visible kilt, but they don't know it cost me so little for an amazingly rugged piece of clothing which has already lasted a year in all kinds of conditions, and I am invariably thinking only of my comfort first while they are ignoring their own discomfort or poor dressing, and usually in denial.

I can say now with some personal experience, there's 2-3 exceptions where a kilt is NOT acceptable:-
1/ under a car when you are being showered in oil and filth.
(I wear some dirty old hacked up trousers which got damaged skiing.

2/ Skiing, pretty obviously.

3/ wearing a kilt at over 30-33C is not a good plan. It's way too hot for that.

That's the only real exceptions I use.

Anything between 5-25C is ideal depending on the weight of it, and it's the only thing which puts you head and shoulders above anyone else when it's literally tipping down with rain.

(You don't get wet and soggy in a kilt, but you sure do in jeans!).
In fact I don't bother with umbrellas any more.

Lastly and most importantly I discovered keeping a steady temperature (NOT TOO HOT, not too cold) improved health out of all recognition.

In normal clothes get in and out of public transport, you are assaulted by changes in temperature constantly, from sweating like fury to freezing cold and windy in a street.

In a kilt in the Moscow metro when autumn , winter comes, you just shrug it all off as if nothing had happened, while people are struggling with excessive warmth at +25C in thick winter clothes, then fighting with the sweat making them cold as soon as they hit a street at -10C.

Anything from -25 to +5C is fine by me, but that is when you tend to get the real looks.
It's not then the "cross dressing" kind, but "HOW ON EARTH" does he do it, and in some cases "he's crazy" or "tougher than iron".

Funnily enough I didn't even so much as catch a cold last winter, while everyone around me went down with flu!

Yes I like your post, its more or less one of the most positive posts that I have read on this site, perhaps a wee bit of nonsense here and there like you don't get wet and soggy in a kilt. In my opinion the worst time wearing the kilt is when it is raining heavily, ' a drookit kilt is no fun at all'
I wore my kilt in Moscow a number of years ago when Scotland were playing there, lots of kilties about obviously, and we were well received, of course it was more or less the city centre that we were in.
I loved your comment from the pretty Russian girl at check in, saying that your kilt was beautiful, its great when you get a remark like that.
You say that you are fine with very low temperatures down to -25 degrees, that is cold, I have worn my kilt in sub-zero temps but that is low, even with undergarments, its still very cold, how do you do and keep everything safe and intact?
I can imagine the the looks and comments as you have stated wearing the kilt in that cold but everyman to his own and I admire your attachment and conviction towards the kilt

[estimaa]

Yes I like your post, its more or less one of the most positive posts that I have read on this site, perhaps a wee bit of nonsense here and there like you don't get wet and soggy in a kilt.

You say that you are fine with very low temperatures down to -25 degrees, that is cold

.
TBH, To begin it was an experiment, largely thanks to my awful and autumnal worsening back problems, then I realised it worked.

I've mentioned lot of this before, but here is more detail.

I started looking at some of the reasons for that mess in the first place...prevention being a good cure.

I guessed "constant abuse over years, + regular hunking loads of overweight baggage up and downstairs, in and out of airports+loads of work rebuilding axles (!), + going with all that,-

- large changes in temperature wearing clothes which either didn't fit great, or were usually too hot, making you pour out sweat.

So the theory ran, keep constant temperatures, no matter what the effort is, get acclimatised to extremes of cold, and GET FIT!

I began by swimming in colder and colder water as autumn and winter came, slowly progressing to 9 > 7 > 5 > 3C and below, with air temperatures of -2, -5, -7 and below.
Clearly then the water is warmer than the surrounding air, but in water you lose body heat 25x faster than in air.

In all this you grow very much more aware of the way the body functions handling extremes of cold, the recovery points, and finer regulation.

Most cold receptors are found on the chest, chin, nose, fingers, and the upper lip.
The least are found in the thigh, calf, effectively the bit not shielded by the Kilt.

In fact I find myself getting a lot colder in jeans now, than in a kilt, which sounds totally daft I know.
Under a certain temperature you don't feel the cold anymore because the nerve receptors to detect it have effectively TURNED OFF.

Once you are walking in knee high snow, in fact, the sensation of cold mostly vanishes.

As for getting wet in a Kilt.
It beats jeans hands down, because you can only get wet once. eh?

Jeans just are ULTRA -SOG, not matter how damp or wet.
Utterly miserable if you get drenched on a walk in a forest.

Kilt?
NOPE, it dries on you as as it carries on being swished in the wind.** (but see below!)

Getting wet?Bah!
Who cares, in the hottest summer weather 35C, I just walked through the fountains, got totally soaked through, then walked back through town soaking wet.
A totally refreshing experience, only matched by the astonished looks you get, especially as you have to squeeze out the excess regularly.



Why do I sound positive?
Because the experience has mostly been positive, + the Kilt is actually a very beautiful garment.

** The ONLY thing you must NEVER DO, is sit down and drive a car with a damp or wet kilt....
It will KILL YOUR BACK, and take you a day to get over the awful aches and pains.

Next exercise is starting to learn the pipes!

[Bluethunder90]

Tony,

Have you become active with the local Scottish and Celtic organizations on Oahu yet? We have several, and there is something happening almost every month somewhere on the island.

No, I have not; I wasn't even aware there were such organizations on the island, but now that you have enlightened me, I will definitely look them up.

[Bluethunder90]

To some of us, "antiquated" is better termed "carefully developed" or "progressively evolved" or even "knowledgeable and educated".

"It seems to me that old school just means that it has passed the test of time" - Unknown

[RCAnderson]

Bluethunder90,

There are a few on Oahu:

• Saint Andrew Society of Hawaii (http://www.saintandrewsocietyofhawaii.com)
• Caledonian Society of Hawaii (http://www.scotsinhawaii.org/Index.html)
• Friends of St Patrick (http://fosphawaii.ning.com)
• Hawaii Irish Dance (http://www.hawaiiirishdance.com)
• Celtic Pipes & Drums of Hawaii (http://www.celticpipeshawaii.org)

Also, you can check my website at www.TheKiltedMedic.com where I have posted a calendar which has all of the events for the various organizations posted throughout the year.

[FinnKilt]

I can say now with some personal experience, there's 2-3 exceptions where a kilt is NOT acceptable:-
1/ under a car when you are being showered in oil and filth.

2/ Skiing, pretty obviously.

3/ wearing a kilt at over 30-33C is not a good plan. It's way too hot for that.
...
Anything between 5-25C is ideal depending on the weight of it, and it's the only thing which puts you head and shoulders above anyone else when it's literally tipping down with rain.
...
Anything from -25 to +5C is fine by me...

I enjoyed Estimaa's comments about actually having better resistance to cold in a kilt, but I'm surprised at his 'tolerable temperatures' numbers. Was there a typo there?
I made the definitive switch from legtubes to a kilt when I had to clear out from an office I'd worked in for 37 years, and the temperature was above +30 C every day; and basically, since then I have only ever tubed my legs 'under duress'.
I recognize two kinds of duress: social and climatic. 'Social duress' includes occasions where I am required to wear a (trousered) suit, because that is what all the other males are wearing – e.g. in a choir I used to sing with. It also included visiting my elderly mother, now departed, who never approved of my kilt-wearing. Otherwise, when other males wear a suit I wear a smart kilt and smart matching jacket.
'Climatic duress' has meant going for a longish walk (5 km) in temperatures below -15 C with a north wind, or closer to -20 C on a still day; but on cold days warmer than that (= -5...-15 C) I do then wear warm underwear and probably my lightweight hiking kilt under a topkilt. This is not in what I take to be Estimaa's usual homebase, but over the water to the north, in Finland. Otherwise I want to confirm what he says about kilts in bad weather – I have hiked in torrential rain in Galicia, Spain, and on Hadrian's Wall, in an Elkommando hiking kilt, and been far more comfortable than I would have been in trousers or even, I suspect, in shorts. In the UK I have not yet encountered non-kilt weather.

And there are of course some folk who go skiing – cross-country, rather than downhill – in a kilt; but I'm no good at skiing, so can't comment..

[RCAnderson]

FinnKilt,

I also have a mother that does not approve of my kilt wear, especially since I started wearing one every day a couple years ago. At first I just avoided her because I did not want to "offend" her, but after a while I realized that it is not me that has the problem, it is her problem.

I sat her down and had a talk with her and explained that if she could not get over me wearing a kilt, I would just postpone my next visit until her funeral if she preferred, that way I did not offend her, but I was not going to wear a particular type of clothing just because someone else wants me to. I wear a kilt every day, and I will continue to wear a kilt everyday until they put me in the ground, and I will be kilted wearing a Prince Charlie in my coffin.

She took it better than I expected, and she hasn't said a word to me about wearing a kilt since then. In fact a few months ago she finally apologized for trying to run my life and making me feel uncomfortable to the point that I had to avoid spending time with her and her side of my family.

Now everything is fine in Kiltville.

[FinnKilt]

FinnKilt,
...
I sat her down and had a talk with her and explained that if she could not get over me wearing a kilt ... .

In her late 80s and into her 90s, my mother – who until then had been an exceptionally active and resilient person – became increasingly nervous and anxious about things. She had developed petit mal epilepsy, and then had a series of mini-strokes (mostly not reported or diagnosed at the time). At the age of 91, she had a particularly bad episode, and needed to go into a care home, but for family access reasons this needed to be in London rather than in her beloved East Yorkshire. It was an excellent home, but she was never happy there. – In those circumstances, I think it was more important to prioritize her comfort zone than mine.

A general comment is that it has really never been a problem meeting new people since I switched to full-time kilt wear, but the longer people had known me in my previous unenlightened trousered state, the more likely they have been to react if not hostilely then at least unsympathetically. And yes, I agree, that is their problem.
Most of my family and friends have simply got used to it and probably don't even notice any more, unless I'm wearing a new kilt they haven't seen before. And where we now mainly live, no one has ever seen me unkilted: ergo, no problem.