Clothing and Equipment

Cartav...........The BBC production was reasonable but not a patch on the real thing.It only showed about half of the action and i think with too much emphasis on the bands.(I hate the pipes)
It was nice to see the field gun race but again was nothing like what was done at the royal tournament (It was dry the night i was there)
I used to enjoy my visit to the tattoo but it losing it`s appeal a bit now

Gordon. wrote:

Cartav...........The BBC production was reasonable but not a patch on the real thing.It only showed about half of the action and i think with too much emphasis on the bands.(I hate the pipes)
It was nice to see the field gun race but again was nothing like what was done at the royal tournament (It was dry the night i was there)
I used to enjoy my visit to the tattoo but it losing it`s appeal a bit now

Unlike you, Gordon, I think the pipes are great.

As for the Edinburgh tattoo, I'm with Billy Connolly on that aspect of Scottishness. Those men dressed like "something off a f . . . biscuit tin", it's too obviously part of the tourist industry for me.

How come they stopped the Field Gun Race a few years back, only to half resurrect it again ?

Gordon. wrote:

(I hate the pipes)
)

Brum....... beginning to suspect Gordon's authenticity. Hates the pipes, wouldn't wear the kilt to his daughter's nuptials, hates the Young Pretender Salmond.......... bet he puts sugar on his porridge.

Maybe you should ask for an Authentication Check.

After eating ACC porridgei wouldn`t touch the stuff with a barge pole

Brum Gather up your begging bowl and all the copies of the big issue,Stand outside Edin
burgh Waverly station and you will soon lose the love of the pipes.

As for the young pretender

i love porridge even acc porridge. but not the stuff the acc used to make from hard tack biscuits.oats were better, ginger

[
Brum....... beginning to suspect Gordon's authenticity. Hates the pipes, wouldn't wear the kilt to his daughter's nuptials, hates the Young Pretender Salmond.......... bet he puts sugar on his porridge.

How about President Salmond ?

The other night he was on the news, being statesman-like about that nice Lockerbie bomber chappie.

Not only did he have a saltire pin on his lapel but his tie was covered in them too.

There must be a lot of heavily subsidised Jocks in Westminster sweating on the independence. I mean, they won't be able to stay on, will they ? (Will they ? ).

Used to enjoy my oats............. it's been a cold, frustrating summer.

But with you on SNP Gordon. Sqn did a MACC task up north one year (Mil. Aid to Civil Community ), had a great time building a playground for under-privileged kids. As usual evenings were free, went into town for a bevy or three. Instead of taking the long way round the houses we made a short cut through a dance hall where the SNP would hold a rally an hour or so later. Officials on the door stopped me......... I gathered I was unwelcome.

Didn't like my accent, don't you know, what ? You've seen those Nazi gatherings in Nuremburg...... I felt like a Jew straying into one of those. Scary......

[Brum Gather up your begging bowl and all the copies of the big issue,Stand outside Edinburgh Waverly station and you will soon lose the love of the pipes.

Ah well, you've got me there Gordie, mate, I've never been to Waverley station, much less Edinburgh I'm afraid.

(Hey, Edinburg, is that near Scaatland buddy ?).

Independance will not happen ,,,,unless England kick us out of the union.
Brum ... Waverly station has pipers 24/7. They do it in shifts and make a small fortune posing for pics with naive tourists.

Gordon. wrote:

Independance will not happen ,,,,unless England kick us out of the union.

Well said Sir !

Rest assured, England would never kick the Scots out
(Unless they'd been VERY naughty, of course !).


Brum ... Waverly station has pipers 24/7. They do it in shifts and make a small fortune posing for pics with naive tourists.

Yes, I can how that would be quite stomach-churning.

I like it when the TV show clips of Regimental pipers that are playing while other men of the regiment dance around swords.

Gordon. wrote:

Independance will not happen ,,,,unless England kick us out of the union.
Brum ... Waverly station has pipers 24/7. They do it in shifts and make a small fortune posing for pics with naive tourists.

Are they Polish or Romanian?

Yes, I can see how that would be quite stomach-churning.

.[/quote]

Massed bands, back to barracks & Black Bear, that's the stuff !

But imagine you're in Glencoe, alone in a bivvy. You've spent a tuneful evening
in the Clacchan pub, singing about how Mel Gibson & the lads put one over on
proud Edward's army, and being regaled by a local, not unlike the lugubrious Fraser in Dad's Army, who recalled how the Campbells slaughtered Shelldrake's forbears
not 50 yards from where your tent is pitched.

It's coolish, misty. Above the gurgling of the trout stream, there's a faint wailing
like some soul in torment. On the edge between drunken slumber and wide awakeness, that brings on cold shivers. It's only some busker tuning up before taking post in one of the lay- bys on the main road. But that's scary !

Quote :

imagine you're in Glencoe, alone in a bivvy.

I would be questioning my sanity..

While I often fantasise that I would go to somewhere where a Digger called Mel Mc Gibson launched his bunch of rather nice chaps against the army of an Irish bloke called King Peter O'Toole, and doss down in a tent, the reality is I'm too old for that sort of malarkey.

One thing that WOULD entice me into a bivvy though is the subject of John Boy's latest offering.

To quote Viz magazine, . . . PHWOOAARR !

Aye Brum....She`s not bad.

Clothing -Optional Accoutrements (but recommended that you buy it - or else).

Stable Belts, with 2 leather straps fastening over the left hip so that no extra "bits"
could get entangled with work in hand at waist level.  Probably the first instance of
Health and Safety PPE in the days of the donkey, horse and ammo limber.

Unfortunately the use and wear has gone full circle and metal clasps, "D" buckles and regt'l designs
(as if the regimental colours were not enough) are back in the middle of the belt
in line with the flies! (often over the Jersey Heavy Wool)

However some one has constructed a site to identify and research the various colour
combinations in stable belts and girdles of Stable Belts over hundreds(?) of years
(I was only interested and irked because Sadiq Kahn of London uses a similar design
of carrying strap, reminiscent of someone's colours, over his right shoulder!
to carry his sandwich bag.)
http://www.stablebelts.co.uk/
i

But some units wore leather buckles central. Qv 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars.

jim wrote:

Geeneff wrote:

Don't know what era you lot come from.  I'm used to a sleeping system with stuff sack on an American camp bed with liner and Goretex outer. Also a supplementary lightweight gonkbag for when the evenings get a tad too warm  

I wish!!

I did have a bundeswehr parka, not sure where I got it from, probably 21 Panzer at Augustdorf, now that was a great bit of kit.  Had to unstich the "Fahne" though.

Adjacent to Alanbrooke Barracks, Paderborn, was a regional Wehrpflicht depot, where Bundeswehr National Servicemen reported at commencement and booked out on completion. Outside, and underneath an Aldi store was an army surplus centre, whence they sold off surplus kit.

The Aldi store used to be about here:

https://w3w.co/resort.molars.pastime

It appears to have moved a few hundred metres north.

Good place to mooch. Pick up useful kit at ridiculously cheap prices. I bought a padded parka, removed the padded lining (press-studded) and wore it under combat jacket.

The Bundeswehr tracksuit was good for skiing in (Snow Queen frowned on us skiing in Oberstdorf among the elite wearing scruffy jeans.

The Panzerstiefel (tank crew boots, sheepskin lined jackboots) were a lot warmer and drier than DMS in German snow. Actual a mucker gave me them when he signed off.

I can still see my CO's face when he stepped out of Zero Alpha (the senior command Saracen) after a long night running the Battlegroup, to find me guarding it in ¾-length greatcoat, jackboots, elbow length sheepskin lined Civvy motorcycle gauntlets, 58 pattern webbing and Small Metal Gun. Probably thought he'd been transferred to Stalingrad 1942.

"Morning Trooper Alien. Pinnacle of sartorial elegance there."

I don't think he was being sarcastic.

I always were looking out for the Bendeswehr leather gloves. They could be a tad cold in winter. I still use them in winter after a good rain peotection.