Following the Threads from Highland Fling to Firelight
When I was little, I used to do Scottish dancing.
There is a picture of me doing the Highland fling at a Highland gathering, one arm raised, one foot lifted, concentrating very hard, counting my steps, trying not to stick my tongue out, and yes, very poor form for arm deportment.
Slightly forgivable for a child, I hope.
Today, I picked up that Scottish thread again at the Melbourne Tartan Festival.
There were Highland dancers and pipers on the balcony of the Old Treasury Building, a massed pipe band parade along Collins Street, and a world record attempt by members of female pipe bands, honouring the Australian Ladies Pipe Band World Tour of 1925 to 1927.
And the women smashed it!!! 144 women from across Australia came together, today.
It was one of those days where different threads seemed to weave themselves together without needing too much planning.
Childhood memory.
Scottish heritage.
Women’s history.
Friendship.
Curiosity.
Firelight.
And, naturally, a traffic cone hat.
I went with Trish Goodfield, author of Weird Wisdom, which felt perfect for a day that did not fit neatly into one box. After all, Weird Wisdom springs from lived experience, curiosity, diversity of thought, and the strange but wonderful connections that appear when we let ourselves notice them.
And there was plenty to notice.
The sound of the pipes echoing through the city.
The dancers keeping rhythm on a winter day.
The tartan.
The crowds.
The energy of women pipers gathering to honour a story from 100 years ago.
And me, wandering through Melbourne in a traffic cone hat, meeting new people and having so much fun.
Wearing traffic cones as hats, or placing actual traffic cones on statues, is one of those wonderfully quirky Scottish things, especially around Glasgow. So with the FIFA World Cup bringing traffic-cone statue mischief to a wider audience, my traffic cone hat felt entirely appropriate for the Melbourne Tartan Festival.
Funnily enough, it was the first time it had made a public appearance since I last wore it to Karneval in Cologne.
Some accessories have their own travel history.
My Scottish heritage comes through my mother’s side of the family, so the day felt like a lovely mix of memory, curiosity and fun. But there was another thread running through it too.
Scotland has never felt like just a place on a map to me.
The Isle of Skye is one of my soul places.
Not in an overly dramatic, standing-on-a-clifftop-with-a-cape kind of way, although to be fair, Skye does lend itself rather well to that sort of imagery.
For me, Skye is quieter and deeper than that. It is a place that has helped my heart heal more than once. It helps me let go of what has weighed me down, find my footing again, and move forward with hope.
And thoughts of Skye, have helped me so much this last week to stay grounded whilst dealing with deep personal disappointment.
My first trip to Skye was over the New Year period of 2003/2004 as part of the Haggis Backpackers Tour. Imagine your first visit to Scotland being on board a little blue mini bus.
Honestly, it was probably the perfect introduction.
Skye has stayed with me ever since.
Today was not Skye. It was Melbourne in winter, with bagpipes, tartan, city streets, a very orange hat, and a good friend beside me. But somehow, the thread was still there.
Perhaps that is what curiosity does. It helps us notice the threads we might otherwise walk past.
An old photo.
A childhood memory.
A family connection.
A place that has helped us heal.
A festival that brings heritage into the middle of a modern city.
A friend who understands the value of weird wisdom.
A hat that really should not make sense, but somehow does.
After the parade and the world record attempt, we made our way to the Invergordon Bar in the Docklands. I had booked a table there because it felt like the right place to continue the day, and also because once you have spent the afternoon surrounded by tartan, pipes and Scottish heritage, a Scottish bar is not exactly a difficult decision.
The Invergordon has an authentically Scottish feel to it, but not in a forced or theme-park kind of way. It feels warm, friendly and cosy. The sort of place where the atmosphere invites conversation rather than shouting over screens. Proper pints, Highland whisky, Scottish details, and a sense that people are meant to settle in, talk, laugh, and stay a while.
It felt like the perfect place to unpack the day.
Heritage.
Creativity.
Women’s history.
Music.
Belonging.
The little moments that spark ideas.
And probably the ongoing question of whether my traffic cone hat should be considered ridiculous, culturally appropriate, or both.
I am going with both…. and very “Jenn”, aka The Gnome That Inspires.
Well, the Scottish bar was almost the perfect ending.
Afterwards, the Firelight Festival along the harbour promenade rounded the day out in a warm glow. There is something lovely about moving from pipes and tartan in the city to firelight by the water in the evening. A different kind of gathering, but still full of warmth, excitement, fun, movement, light and atmosphere.
By that point, I was very glad I had made one extra decision.
Instead of trying to squeeze the whole day into a rushed trip home, I turned it into a mini weekend break and stayed in a hotel one minute’s walk from my work office.
Sometimes the wise decision is not complicated.
Sometimes it is fleece-lined tights.
Sometimes it is booking the hotel.
Sometimes it is letting a good day be spacious enough to enjoy properly.
And sometimes it is following a thread from childhood, through tartan, traffic cones, friendship, firelight and Scottish hospitality, then waking up gently the next morning ready for the working week.
Some threads are worth picking up again.
Especially when they come with bagpipes.
Jenn Barfield - Holistic Clarity Coaching 