Many Have Outgrown Their Nannies

Right after the Royal Caledonian Club announced Friday no official Grand Match for Lake of Menteith, serious curlers started a Facebook page to hold a big outdoor curling event themselves. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=268365730228

By Friday evening, they had floodlights on the ice and had started curling. About 2,000 had stepped onto the ice, with many curling there on Saturday. The first ever Facebook curling flashmob! Here is a photo from that Facebook's page's Heather McRea's heartstopping photo of a dog watching the curlers on the Lake at sunset.
See also http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/game-on-rebel-curlers-ignore-bonspiel-ban-1.997371

The local hotel, the Lake Hotel, had been doing good business with soup on the deck. I'll bet their business was great today, too. And will be great this entire week.

Curlers plan to be there on the aborted day, Tuesday, January 12, and do the match without the official sanction. (The "Glorious Twelfth" anyone?) Trossachs Mountain Search & Rescue has stepped up to provide emergency services. Viva the volunteers! http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/-Curlers-defy-safety-warnings.5970380.jp

Three cheers for all of those who have outgrown their nannies.

This is going all around Scotland electronically: "The Fiery Cross has been lit and as we speak is being electronically sent throughout our proud nation. Now is the time to arise from your slumbers and fight for our heritage. Contact your intended opposition if possible, and assemble at Lake of Menteith on Tuesday, to play the game we love. Allow time to mark your rink and prepare the surface. Above all, be careful, but enjoy the day. Forward the message to all who support civil liberty and the right to live as we choose."

The Nanny State?

Well, 'twould seem the officials from the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC) have not the extreme huztpah of the Burning Man event organizers who safely get 50,000 people on and off a Nevada desert playa during an always lethally blistering Summer week with their own volunteer ranger/mediators and medical personnel. It seems the RCCC's Grand Match was scotched by some worries from the local constabulary about a wee number of curlers and their fans (10,000) arriving on a two-lane road with less than good driving and parking skills - plus some cooties about liability - and two local landowners who are not total fans of the Grand Match car parkers.

Hmmm.

Plenty of curling on outside ice in Scotland is happening anyway this winter- including many already curling on the Grand Match Aborted January 12, 2010 site itself, the Lake of Menteith. Bob Cowan's Skip Cottage Curling blog has the best info and news about such outdoor curling. Maybe a big Scottish match will happen on the Grand Match site next week....with or more likely without the suits from the RCCC. Maybe they could be inspired by the self-starters of Burning Man and provide their own "rangers" force as the Burners do to ensure as reasonably as possible everyone's safety?

Stay tuned...

Is the Grand Match on?!?

Every last curler in Scotland is waiting for colder weather and an announcement that the Grand Match is on!

(Locally, Alice is also waiting for the call for the Mavericks surfing contest....both may be the same day!!!)

A Grand Match has not been held in more than 30 years. 251 games with 502 teams, each with 4 players each for a total of 2008 curlers! All on the ice, outdoors at the same time. Plus, as many spectators and plenty of "refreshments", too.

Seven inches of ice is needed. It looks like the Lake of Menteith may work this year. Keep your fingers crossed in the coming days for icy weather in Scotland and a good Pacific swell to the coast.

NASA just snapped a picture of snowy Great Britain. Looks good for the Grand Match!!!!