Dear Mary…
Q. In Scotland the Celtic tradition favours the female line (hence hereditary titles passing to daughters in the absence of an immediate male heir). In my opinion it would therefore be entirely appropriate for G.C. (4 December) to wear his wife’s tartan at a reeling party, provided (as stated) it is worn with respect. Highland dress and Scottish country dancing make a colourful combination, but if your correspondent has further reservations I suggest he might consider acquiring a pair of tartan trews.
Roddy Martine, Edinburgh
A. There is logic in your argument. However, my straw poll of Scottish noblewomen with English husbands revealed that the majority would be horrified if their husbands dressed in a kilt. Nevertheless the daughter of Lady Saltoun, chief of the Frasers, has an English husband who has embraced the style. No doubt he would take the view, ‘If it’s me it’s “U”.’ Lady Hesketh, herself an expert on tartans, has brothers who wear tartan trews and observes, ‘It all depends on the circs.’
Q. Every morning after I have dropped my son at his nursery school I stop at a local bakery and buy a chocolate croissant to eat as I walk the rest of my way home. Despite the fact that I have been doing this every weekday morning for something like 12 weeks, the assistant behind the counter always asks, ‘Anything else, Sir?’ as she wraps the croissant up. I have tried requesting my croissant by saying, ‘I just want one chocolate croissant as usual’ or ‘Just the one chocolate croissant’, even holding the precise coinage in my outstretched palm as I make the request, but nothing seems to get the message across. I am driven almost mad. Mary, how can I stop her from asking if I want anything else?
A.B.,
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