A concert, a scarf, and a flag

Photo from http://www.rsno.org.uk

On Saturday Toad and I went to listen to this concert by the Royal Scottish Symphony Orchestra (RSNO) at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. It was fantastic, all of it. When I was a student at Dundee and went to concerts in the Caird Hall the orchestra was the humble SNO.

Caird Hall, Dundee
photo from Wikipedia, Creative Commons

Beforehand we had been to BurgerKing and had Aberdeen Angus burgers. Anyone who thinks burgers are junk food hasn't had an Aberdeen Angus one. The banana and strawberry smoothie was also very good. We got one to share but I drank nearly all of it because Toad said it made his forehead cold and he didn't want to get a cold-headache before the concert. Fine by me 😉

After the concert we made our way to the station for the train home. While we were waiting a couple passed us and I thought I recognised the tartan of the scarf the man was wearing. It wasn't until I noticed an abandoned Scottish flag on a bench and the man commented on it as I picked it up that I felt able to ask him about the scarf. It was indeed the Ancient Green Douglas tartan that I had guessed it was. I guessed right because that is the tartan I chose for my dem dancing sash many years ago–blue and green together and nothing riotous. You can't really see it in this blurry old photo from 2002 in Oxford Town Hall (I'm at the 'front') but you can see how we ruched the sashes over our right shoulders and, from a couple of the others, how they hung down behind. A token gesture to the old blanket plaids that kept people warm.

Sadly my sash, being wool, got rather moth-eaten so it got recycled. I still have the thistle pin that pinned it in place though. Needs a lick of silver polish!