Monday, September 29, 2008

Robert Burns in Kirkcudbright: toilet seat tribute paid to Scottish poet (1759-1796)

As the BBC reports, the owners of the Selkirk Arms Hotel in Kirkcudbright, South West Scotland, Chris Walker and Douglas MacDavid, have immortalised one of Scottish poet Robert Burns' most famous works on a toilet seat.

The hotel, where Burns is known to have been a guest, is reputed to be the location where he wrote his famous "Selkirk Grace":

"Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit."

The Selkirk Arms Hotel had already begun commemorating its connection with the Bard in the year leading up to the 250th anniversary of his birth by serving a real ale called "The Grace", brewed by Sulwath Brewers from the neighbouring town of Castle Douglas.

The toilet seat promotion was an additional idea developed after Chris, an avid marketer by his own admission, came across a company called Loo Prints at one of the summer agricultural shows.

Burns loo seat at the Selkirk Arms Hotel, Kirkcudbright, South West Scotland

The poem now "graces" the lids of all the lavatories in the Selkirk Arms, which feature an image of the poet as well as a range of other characters from his works.

Burns, buried in nearby Dumfries, where he died relatively young at 37, would probably have been highly amused by this "toilet humour" designed to raise awareness of both his works and his connection to the Selkirk Arms - and which also gives the travel industry colloquialism "bums on seats" a whole new meaning!

Robert Burns in Kirkcudbright: toilet seat tribute paid to Scottish poet (1759-1796)