At this sort of event there are always lots of visitors asking about what tartan is associated with this or that family or other group. To meet this need there is a table staffed by experts in this decidedly obscure lore, armed with many reference volumes. The people really do know their history, but every now and then even they get stumped. Yesterday one of them came down from their table looking some help with Scottish military history. The question was what tartan did the Scots Greys wear. I replied that the Grey were a Lowland cavalry regiment and AFAIK never wore a tartan. She was impressed–I had actually heard of the Scots Greys. I qualified my answer by noting that I did not not know anything of their history after the Napoleonic wars, and that it was certainly possibly they had adopted a tartan in the tartan-mania of the Victorian era. I also said I would try to get more information at home.

That evening a quick Google search led me to the Scottish Military History Society. I was basically correct: The Greys did not have a tartan, except that they did have a piper who would wear Royal Stewart. Also, they were dragoons, not cavalry. This is a distinction that will only matter to those who worry about the minutiae of military history. Well, since you never know when you will meet one of those (In fact, I have known many), and since I was acting on behalf of colgaffneyis, I was careful to mention it when I reported my findings the following morning.

Some of us had talked about going out for dinner after they day’s events, and Mia and I were the first to arrive at the agreed upon site–the Liffey, an Irish bar in downtown St. Paul, not far from the Ramble’s site. We found it was mobbed–apparently a hockey game had just finished at the nearby Excel Center. We ordered a Guinness each, but quickly realized there was no way our dinner party would get served in a finite time. So we called the others and worked out an alternate site.

However, Mia and I could not leave immediately. That would have been very disrespectful to our Guiness. Also, there were several guys in kilts already there, and from their demeanor they had clearly been there for quite a while. One of them noticed my kilt, and came over to greet us. We had a very pleasant chat, and I hope to visit his pub of choice (which has kilt nights every Thursday) sometime soon.

Also, Mia and I thought about inviting James along to dinner, so we had to go home and fetch him. He was commendably ready to go as soon as we pulled up, but we were still the last to arrive at the restaurant. Even so, it was a good time, and an excellent way to end the day.