Harpenden Games 2012

[English Bloke]

After a quick spruce up, We dressed for dinner.



I thought I'd push the boat out so I went for Black Watch Weathered with a nice jacket in Stonewash Blue. It WAS a bit parky out.



I was also a bit thirsty after all that driving, as you can imagine.



It was a romantic candle-lit dinner for two, and the Kids... and half the population of the South of England,
"It'll be 40 minutes for a table Sir, sorry, we're a bit busy tonight".
"Y' don't say"... Strewth!



There were chairs in the restaurant, honest. It's just the my daughter has ants in her pants and my wife and I are constantly up and down retrieving “the bits” my son continually casts about himself.



Eventually everyone decided to sit on Dad. Good job my Kilt pin wasn't too sharp.

[English Bloke]

So the next morning we were up bright and early and went down to a sumptuous, full British brekkers which took about an hour and a half to finally get served. No complaints, my Sunday schedule is not their emergency... obviously, but it did set us back a bit in terms of timing. We eventually got all the Kids accoutrements and paraphernalia into the car and poddled off to the Main Event.

The Harpenden Highland Gathering 2012.


The 'Dogs and Ducks' Show was the first event we came to. (We were late for the opening ceremony and massed bands).


The show consisted of two highly trained Border Collies, one a sheep dog, in that he normally works with sheep and one a duck dog, in that she has duck round up, down to a tee. It was marvellous to see two wonderfully intelligent animals working the herd... gaggle... flock... waddling? What is the collective for ducks? These were Indian Runner Ducks and were mostly a kind of muddy brown colour, so perhaps in this case, it's a 'Khaki' of Ducks

Where was I? Oh yeah... so the dogs were awesome as was the running commentary given by the shepherd... (that's not the right word either... Duckerd?) At one point he told the dogs to lie still while he gave a brilliant description of the natural canine hunting instinct which is controlled by the 'alpha male' (man) to get the dogs to work the herd, rather than devour it. Unfortunately this doggie pause resulted in a momentary lapse of duck control and in less than a couple of seconds they were out of the arena and off round the park. Hugely amusing to see Bloke chasing ducks through the trees and bushes while dogs obediently sat in the middle of the Arena, watching the spectacle unfold and waiting for the command "Fetch" or "Seize" or "Kill" or whatever it is you are supposed to shout at duck-dogs when the 'waddle' is a'waddling. I could almost hear them laughing at him. Once the ducks were back in the paddock, as it were, if dogs could talk they'd be saying something like.
“Would you like us to look after this lot now? 'Cause alpha male or not, you're clearly useless at it.”
Once the intricacies of Man-Dog comms were sorted out though, it was staggering to see the two of them reacting instantly to single word commands as well as unspoken shoulder dips and other physical gestures. Don't wish to make light of the man really but it was one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. He does have some incredibly well trained animals though. The ducks on the other hand...

As this unfolded...


Our mate Sue (Kineticat) was mixing it with the big boys in the 'chucking stones about' section. She did extremely well it must be said and came FIRST in all the Ladies events.


I did have what I thought were cracking action shots of Sue doing her thing but unfortunately my happy-snaps camera and (dare I say) iffy light only produced vaguely blue blurs. (Sorry Sue)

My daughter was soon bored with the “Cummon darlin', lets watch these people chuck heavy stuff about” tactic and insisted she have a go on the Climbing Wall.


Here she is, helmeted, harnessed and waiting with summer dress loin-clothed to protect her modesty. Not that SHE was bothered.


Assaulting the North Face...


I believe this is called 'Fear'... sorry 'No Fear'.

[English Bloke]

Fortunately she was off the wall when the Black Watch (42nd of Foot) Waterloo Division entered the Arena.


They marched on with colours flying and Pipes a' Skirling and Drums a' rat-a-tatatin' Very impressive. You could almost feel the fear in the French Imperial Guard. (They were so scared, they didn't even show up.)


They loosed off a couple of fusillades at the Frenchy... I think they were actually firing at the Air Cadets who were massed to their front... but either way, it was nicely loud.


Then got themselves into a hasty all round defence. Presumably to protect the colours from my Randonnée Bretonne (Brittany Walking/Hunting) Kilt that I had opted to wear.


As the smell of cordite and the smoke of battle drifted across the field, incidental light music was provided by the Luton Youth Jazz Orchestra. Most entertaining, if not a little surreal.

And meanwhile...


Les Bandes écossais a également joués …

[English Bloke]

And then there was the Meet-up. 14:00 / 15:00 / turn up when you want / can... It all went swimmingly and we all found each other at some point or other. Mainly helped by Chas and his unstinting dedication to information and a good hearty wave of the Xmarks Banner (not to mention a couple of decent sized saltires in pukker 'new blue'


A bevy of fine Xmarkers all in their finery (I had my sun hat on again... sorry.) Hamish you will note, who we know would have loved to have been there, was attending in thought if not in person.


And again... Once more with feeling!



'Chewing the fat'... Catching up with old friends, most of which I haven't actually met, although I must admit, it didn't feel like it. It was like a reunion with old friends.



This Bloke, and Sue, and her Bloke...


Freddie (Andy) joins in.


Paul Henry in his Kilt of many offcuts. A superb creation if I may make so bold...



Grizzly (Simon) and exceptionally large dawg!


Simon and Mrs Simon...


Dougle and I (sharing a sniffter... I suspect we have a common interest).

And meanwhile...


The Bands played on...

[English Bloke]

And while we are all 'sharing the lurve' … my daughter, who is not at all interested in friendships and bonding, is getting a bit of Pro Golf tuition on the sly.


Tishhhk... another expensive hobby in the making.


Small Bloke on the other hand, seems more than happy to look as appealing as possible while partying on down with frozen yoghurt.

After the golf?


Off for a cup of tea.


We then wandered away to watch the falconry display. One very impressive bit of swooping and diving from a cheeky Diva of a bird who teased the crowd with a spot of hide and seek in the trees (I'm not coming down till I'm good and ready Mr Demille) before slamming in for the kill and taking mid-air, a mouse on a string (I think). Took the Falconer a bit by surprise (and half her hair with it) as said mouse ended up in amongst the crowd and in the the ripping and tearing grip of an angry falcon. Nothing if not dramatic. VERY impressive.


I'd watch that again... Pure aerial acrobatics.

So what did the Show-ground look like?


Big field really. We're up by the classic cars here. Some beautiful vehicles from yesteryear. All polished and waxed to restored lovliness.


You can see the heavy's arena (note the throwing cage) on the right and to the left of that is the dog-duck / Waterloo / Falcon display area. An enormously well organised event if you want the spectators opinion.


Bit of ZOOM on here, but you can see Chas's twin Saltires flying valiantly over the rest of the attractions.



And here I am trying to look desperately Kewl, while trying not to bulge over the top of my Kilt belt.

[English Bloke]

They thought it was funny anyway...


Cummon now, compose yourselves... This is supposed to be a serious, descriptive picture thread.


Time for some light refreshment. One observation. The beer in the beer tent, while quite drinkable, is hideously over-priced. It may be my Northern-ness showing, but four quid for a pint of Lager? I was at the Beverley Folk Festival a few weeks ago and the beer was 2/3rds that (£2.70) and they still managed a healthy profit. A review is possibly required. Just a thought. (More suggestions for a better gig later perhaps... signed 'Outraged' of Tunbridge Wells).

Next up, The Gay Gordons Dance Group.


Barrie (X Marker Schiehallion) is a member of this Dance Group and it was a pleasure to watch these Chaps perform.


There are folk on board X Marks who know far more about Scottish Country Dancing and Ceilidh Dancing than I do, so I shall not embarrass myself by demonstrating my complete ignorance; but you may be interested to know that the chap with the short hair (as in VERY short hair) and big bushy beard is profoundly deaf, and dances using feel of rhythm and acute observation, which I think is spectacular. I personally, wouldn't have known were I not introduced.


It was an impressive display by ALL involved.

And so to the finale

[English Bloke]

The massed bands took to the Arena for the closing display, prize giving and closing address by the Deputy Mayoress of Harpenden and the final salute. The initial counter-point seemed a bit chaotic at first but soon settled down once the bands had established the layout of the available space. Not bad for 'cuffed'.


The indomitable 42nd, who seemed miraculously returned to full health after taking numerous 'falling when hit' barrages, took up the rear of the parade with colours a-flyin'.


The music was just awesome... Sends shivers up yer back!


And the Kilt display was impressive too... (if you like that sort of thing...)


Even my little girl was momentarily silenced with the power and the spectacle!!


After it was all over there was still time for the obligatory face paint and a quick wizz on the remnants of the kiddies funfair and...


Because enough is never enough when you are little, we popped into the playground for a quick go on the swings...


Stick your Pipe Bands... The real competition is right here, it's all about who can swing the highest.

[English Bloke]

For those who have not been to Harpenden before, I must say it's very picturesque. Not you average housing scheme.


Just some of the architecture that abounds.


Bit nicer than where I live.


No shopping trolleys dumped in the pond for a start...

My daughter of course, was not amused with wasting time taking photos of houses on the way back to the car when she could have spent another ten minutes on the swings.


For this I was duly punished!!


And so we head back up the M1, refreshed from our brief sojourn to the South.

By eck... it's GRIM up North (apparently).

Hope you enjoyed our day out as much as we did.

[Jock Scot]

It must have been hell EB, all that shot and shell, noise(pipes), smoke, arrows, screaming(children), escaping duck, hawks going AWOL and more! Did our intrepid reporter falter?-----Well OK, the prices at the beer tent seemed to cause the heart to miss a beat-------no! Onwards our man and trusty crew, valiantly went. He was there------well OKaaaaay, not quite right from the start --------to the end. What more can we expect from an xmarks reporter?

Well done EB, super pictures and I am really glad that a goodly number of the rabble were able to attend too.

[Derek]

What a great bunch of pics EB. Glad you all had a fab time.
Drink wise it was the same at the festival we played. They seem to slam the prices right up. No quite the wetherspoons we are used too John eh!
Thanks again for the pics .. great style in presentation too
Iechyd Da
Derek