The Highlander Fling

 

Having arrived alive and well in Glasgow, I spent the first 2 days acclimating and sleeping off my jet lag - I had prepared for this because I wanted to be ready for the Fling. As I mentioned in my last post, having heard of the Fling, I changed my whole vacation just to be able to attend this. It is put on by actor Scott Kyle who played Ross the smith in Outlander. I had started to follow him on Twitter and was surprised when he immediately followed me back and even responded to some of my tweets - that's the thing about Scott, while of course this makes a bigger fan base for him, he really does want to get to know the fans and it's one reason he started doing the flings. 

I arrived at the Doubletree a bit early hoping to get a good table. I knew no one of course but had chatted a bit online with a lovely lady from Edinburgh named Lyn Wilson. She was kind enough to ask me to join her table, so getting there early made it much easier to find her before the crowds started coming in. I was met at the door by Jay Graham also from Outlander. He was simply a really nice guy and we got to know each other a little better over drinks later in the evening.

 Now he lookeLyn and her friends and I found a nice table and as we were settling in Romann Berrux who played young Fergus walked in with his girlfriend. As we were the only ones inside, it gave us a great opportunity to chat with him. He was a very sweet young man and I could see some of the mannerisms of Fergus in him. Of course the last time I saw him, which obviously was on tv - he looked like this along with Scott.Now he looked like this 

Shortly after Scott and his wife Karen came in and we told him how excited we were to be there and how we had been looking forward to it.  I asked if there would be Haggis and he said he planned the whole dinner to be traditionally Scottish, so yes, indeed we were having haggis.

People were starting to arrive so we settled down at our table and watched the people come in. Many were in costume which I thought looked like a lot of fun. Having two kids who are into cosplay, I could see myself doing it if I didn't have to lug the clothing across the ocean!

Stephen Walters who played Angus Mhor arrived just then and once again I was able to have a bit of conversation with him - another thoroughly nice guy, taking tons of time with the people  lined up to meet him. Later he entertained us with a set playing some of his funny original songs like the Diana Garibaldi (Gabaldon) Blues https://youtu.be/IzhzFlb-pxE  and some more traditional things like Don't Let me Down and Blackbird. Of course I had to get a picture with him as well - pretty good beginning for my time in Scotland!

Dinner was as Scott had promised: traditional haggis, tatties and neeps - that's potatoes and turnips! I have to tell you I really like haggis. I had tried it before when my husband and I went with his parents to the Feast of Haggis in Chicago. As a little aside here, this feast in Chicago was a big deal. It was held in a beautiful hotel and Helen Hayes was guest of honer. The funniest thing was all the men were carrying little suitcases with them. I asked my husband what they were and they were portable bars! The drinks were very expensive there, so they brought their own!  

Scott did an incredible job putting this fling on - As we sat down to dinner a pipe and drum group came in playing Scotland the Brave - my husband would have loved that - it was his favorite song.  You can see it here https://youtu.be/maohqT9I-MM

This was followed by highland dancers - young girls who danced as a group, https://youtu.be/nwO8Kz7zZlwas a set of four doing the sword dance (they could have given Sam and Duncan some lessons!) https://youtu.be/PAplxqPYtes and one lovely young lady who danced to Scotland the Brave. https://youtu.be/mxn0hh5R-9Q

Following that were various groups of young people Scott has worked with who sang https://youtu.be/_1jiTJ5eMJc   and danced https://youtu.be/-SbUTQDspkQ  their way into our hearts.  When dinner was over, the ceilidh began with some lessons for those who did not know how to dance.https://youtu.be/3s6n_bVaPqM The very enthusiastic dancer is Jon Dan Duncan who was in the Culloden episodes and also was a regulator this season.  I found it interesting that they come very close to our square dancing which must have been brought over to America by Scottish settlers and morphed into what we have today. Here you will see them all dancing - https://youtu.be/_LXEla0fdaI

The last bit of entertainment was done by a Rod Stewart impersonator who was very good and had everyone up and dancing. A lovely surprise was Adhamh O Broin (who taught Gaelic to the cast) who sang the last song which was plaintive and beautiful.

One thing the Scots do that is incredibly moving is they join hands at the end of the evening and sing all the verses of Auld Lang Syne while holding hands, walking in towards the middle and meeting, then stepping back again and doing that until the song ends. I have to tell you I was crying by the time it was over!

permission by Scott Kyle

BUT!!!! There was more! Some of us went with Scott, Jay, JonDan and some of the other actors  to the top of the Radisson Red Skybar which had a beautiful view of the city. We sat on the rooftop with our drinks for a bit, but when it got chilly we headed inside. The conversation was interesting and at times hilarious and we all hated to leave.  It was just such a perfect ending to an incredible evening. I made a lot of lovely friends that day who I still keep up with  - from Scotland, England and of course the USA.

Tomorrow is the Hangover Tour with Scott which was an incredible day - see you then!

Sadly the fling was cancelled this year, but please check out this video Scott put together as it really catches the essence of the experience!