Tattie Holidays Over; Perthshire Children Return to School Having Not Picked a Single Tattie
Generational shift as 'tattie howking' replaced by 'tattie looking at on a phone'.
A Perthshire potato field, untouched by children this October. Photo: M J Richardson, “Potato field after harvest - geograph.org.uk - 5152157”, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
PERTH — Schoolchildren across Perth and Kinross have returned from the October break, traditionally known as the tattie holidays, having again failed to pick a single potato.
“In my day, we were in the fields at six,” said a Coupar Angus grandfather. “Hands raw. Back broken. Five shillings and a pie. Now my grandson thinks a tattie comes from a bag marked ‘wedges’.”
Teachers said the most common answer to “what did you do in the holidays?” was “watched a video of someone else doing something”.
One Errol primary pupil did report having seen a potato field from a car. He described it as “very brown” and gave it three stars.
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