"Viking Style" Brouge lacing?

[Silmakhor]

Having tried "Viking Style," I can confirm it doesn't work. The laces don't stay put and look a mess within 20 minutes.

My worst experience with brogues though came during a piping competition. Specifically a quartet competition. I love those because they were not as high stakes as solo or band contests. Musically they were fun because you function as an ensemble but can still hear each player and feed off of each other.

Anyway, this highland games was somewhere in Mississippi. We start playing our set and I feel very sharp, unpleasant sensations coming from my lower legs. It turns out that I was standing on a nest of fire ants. They swarmed over my brogues and into my hose and starting attacking during the competition. So I couldn't deal with the problem. Not fun.

[EagleJCS]

Anyway, this highland games was somewhere in Mississippi. We start playing our set and I feel very sharp, unpleasant sensations coming from my lower legs. It turns out that I was standing on a nest of fire ants. They swarmed over my brogues and into my hose and starting attacking during the competition. So I couldn't deal with the problem. Not fun.

OUCH! That sounds worse than the cicadas - one of the 17-year broods - that invaded the Glasgow (KY) Highland Games a few years ago. They were just a nuisance for the most part, only occasionally drowning out the pipe bands with their noise, but causing some major tune-by-ear issues. The pitch they were 'singing' at was just a few cents flat of the average pitch for most of the bands and soloists on the day.

Only a few pipers and drummers had any issues with them actually landing and/or crawling on them, though one of the pipers in my band (Louisville Pipe Band) came face-to-face with a cicada that landed on her pipe bag just below the blowstick.


Regarding the OP's topic: When I first laced up my first pair of brogues, I must admit I went high with the lacing. They make the laces long for a reason, right? After trying to walk around with them that high, paying a little more attention to others' laces, and doing some reading (before I found this site), I realized I was wrong and started tying them off just above my ankle-bone.