UK trip day 7, part 1
So the start of the day was kinda crappy... didn't get a restful night's sleep as I was hoping, the bed wasn't the worst but it wasn't so good either. Guess I was just spoiled the night before at Eiland View. Taking a shower in a real tub was nice, didn't have to watch my elbows as I was washing my hair AND they had huge towels that actually wrapped around my body, nice touch.
Again with the packing and loading of the car before heading to breakfast. Acccckkk, so it started to drizzle and it happened to be the coldest morning so far. Breakfast was all fancy like, we had an assigned table in the dining room and got to order off a menu that had just about anything possible for a Scottish breakfast. Mom had French toast which was homemade bread that they fried, it was different and she liked it. Smoo tried the kipper (smoked Herring) and it came out head and tail and all, yup that's a herring and OMG did it smell bad. I ventured the haggis with my traditional breakfast. Didn't really taste like anything and was super crunchy, wasn't bad, won't ever eat it again though. And hey, I finally got good bangers! I donno why every other place had sucky sausages... I had such high expectations.
Then we were off to the games! It was about a 20 minute drive over to Braemar, wasn't sure where to park but we figured we'd just follow the stream of traffic. Noticed a lot of cops on the road (suppose all the fuss was for the Queen) adn then we passed Balmoral Castle, oh hey the Queen! (kidding, we didn't see her there but that's where she stays when in town). Ended up parking with everyone else in a cow field, complete with cow plops we had to walk around.
And then we proceeded to walk the entire length of town, I suppose it was the only area large enough to park everyone at and helped the stores' business for the day as everyone walked by. The rain stopped (good touch otherwise my personal war with the rain gods would have included my mother on my side and they knew better than to piss her off). Along the walk to the park we paused for a pipe band marching (bet we knew where they were going) down the street, and the official leading the way with his walking stick. So we ended up following the band through town like a parade. We got to the field, showed our tickets twice and then we were in! I was waiting for a bag screening that never came, guess the Scots don't really care about knocking off the Queen... of course then that would leave them with Charles and that's a completely different story that this...
Anywho, the wind kept howling around the stands which kinda sucked since I didn't have the hood on my coat and forgot to bring a warm hat and gloves. Note to self: remember to pack a hat and gloves next time. The "gathering" grounds aren't that big, I was expecting something bigger since this is the largest games in Scotland. We estimated maybe 4000 people at the peak (when the queen was there). First thing in the morning at 10am (in the cold) there were maybe a few hundred around and a ton of competitors on the field in the chaos of 4 or 5 events taking place at the same time. It was so confusing, the commentator had a hard time keeping up and he was walking around the field with a clipboard!
The events (in order of their coolness as judged by me): heavy events, tug o' war, track events, pipe band events, kids events, then lastly the dancing... maybe last cuz I couldn't really see the dancers and it appeared to be the same dance over and over again. And for the rundown of the events...
The Heavy Events:
1. Throwing the hammer (16 and 22 lb.)
It's a weight at the end of a 2x4, the guys have spikes on their boots to firmly plant their feet then use both hands to whip this thing around over their heads out into the field and they stand facing away from where they throw so they kinda have no idea where it's going. The spikes on their boots make them look funny when they're walking around.
2. Throwing the weight (28 and 56 lb.)
Most similar to discus where they hold on with one hand, it's a weight on a handle, they spin around and fling it out into the field.
3. Putting the stone (16 and 28 lb.)
Completely nothing like what they did in Braveheart but that was supposed to be midieval times :-P
Like shot put only heavier and the stones are bigger than dinner plates where the officials carry them with both hands, the guy holds it with one hand and flings it out into the field.
4. Tossing the caber (16'4", 99lbs... 20'1" 121 lbs... and the Braemar caber that was for the previous prize winners: 19'9" 132 lbs)
My ultimate favorite as it looks like a telephone pole and takes two officials to give it to the guy who will then hold onto it by cupping his hands under the narrower end, balance it, run forward and fling it in hopes that it turns end over end and lands close to 12 o'clock position (which means they don't need to attempt again for that round).
5. Throwing weight over bar one hand (42 and 56 lb.)
Similar weight with handle as "throwing the weight", the guy will stand under the bar and with one hand fling the weight up and over the bar, the bar gets raised (like high jump) until they can no longer get it over, I think it starts at 9' or somewhere around there.
The heavy events are broken up into: local, open, and Grampian qualifier (accumulated score for the different games) and the 18-25 age group... and can't forget the old guy who's 67 and has been doing this forever practically... yea that's freakin old. So yea the heavy events are by far my favorite cuz these big burly guys are part of clans, wear their kilts proudly, and are just freakin amazing with their strength AND this is part of their history that their ancestors have done for hundreds of years.
Tug o' war:
Totally awesome to see a bunch of military guys chant and grunt, dig in their feet and pull on a rope, LOL I think they all had the same shoes which makes sense to normalize it. This is one of the inter-services events (as in royal navy, etc. who send the local braches/brigades? whatever that word is that I'm looking for... I believe there were 11 teams to compete for the 3 different titles that I didn't even begin to try to understand. I liked how the two teams that are up will both march out lined up together, shake hands and the ref will call a couple commands to get them in position and then wave his arm and they're off... chanting, grunting, digging in their feet, pulling, repeat.