The caption tells us that this good lady is Mrs T Veitch from Gatehouse-of-Fleet taking part in a bonspiel at Ayr Curling Club in 1960. A bonspiel is of course simply a curling tournament which originally was held outdoors when a handy loch froze over. But our eyes are drawn to the doughty Mrs Veitch as she has a fag nonchalantly puffing away in her mouth even while she is throwing the stone. Clearly no health worries about smoking then. She is also wearing those little fur boots that zipped up the front which almost every elderly woman in Scotland wore in the sixties. And then seemingly overnight they just disappeared as if the footwear taste police sent out a letter telling everyone to bin them.
Ayr Curling Club still exists, and through the winter there are rinks open from nine in the morning till nine at night. But I don't think they smoke on the ice anymore. Sorry Mrs Veitch.
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