WELL, WE FILLED THE HILL

Munguin and Humza Yousaf, Minister for
 External Affairs and International Development

WOW. JUST WOW!

I don't think any of us expected it to be that amazing. Well, I didn't anyway.  I've never been on a march before. I'm more a 'write about it' kind of person than a 'go on a march' kind of person. 

But I'd wanted to go last year, and couldn't because I'd previously arranged to take an old lady out for a run in the country that day! So I swore I would go this time, come hell or high water.

So in some convivial and comfortable company, Munguin and I set on in the car yesterday. And we hadn't a clue what to expect. Our companions hadn't been before either.

What we found though was better that we had dared hope for.

I don't know about numbers. At one stage the BBC said 8,000. Then they said "more than 8000". A police inspector there on crown control (not that control was needed from what I could see) suggested 30,000*. I'm useless at judging numbers so I don't have a clue how many there were. But there were a lot.

We were among the first to arrive
so Munguin got a badge

The atmosphere was amazing. People just seemed to like one another, maybe because there was a common goal. But all marches are, I suppose, have common golals, and it doesn't seem to me that they are as warm as this one was. People were talking to people they'd never met before, sharing stories, sharing biscuits and snacks. I saw no evidence of any trouble, nor of any drinking, nor indeed much litter (although with all the leaflets that were being handed out, I imagine that the hill will need a bit of a clean today). There were people of all ages. Kids I suppose who didn't have much choice, but teens, through to people who were clearly in their 80s or even 90s. The place was a sea of kilts. 

There were people of various ethnic backgrounds (lovely to see Asian Scots in kilts), and I was blessed by God and by Allah within a few minutes... not bad going for an atheist!

We marched (well OK, dandered) next to a group from Orkney, under their flag, and one of the ladies was telling me that there was a contingent from YES PAPA STOUR!. Among the more surprising banners we noticed one from Free Venice! 

Il y avait partout des affiches avec le mot "OUI", and I had the chance to say a brief "Bonjour" to Christian Allard, our first French-born MSP. 

Munguin holds top level talks with
Stewart Hosie and Shona Robison
respectively SNP Finance Spokesman
 and Minister of Sport 

It took a long time to get  everyone to Calton Hill. We sat three quarters of the way up where we could see the screens and hear the contributions and people kept on coming and coming and coming. The sound system was excellent and the speeches were inspiring, funny and kinda homely. Margo was brilliant. Elaine C Smith was awesome. The music was bang on. Just enough, not too much.

I'd never heard Dennis Canavan speak before, but he was passionate and I found what he said chimed with the way I felt. A kind of modernised Old Labour.  

If there was a downside for me, it was that despite the Munguin T-shirts and Munguin looking around all the time, we didn't meet any of you lot. And that was a disappointment!

Brilliant banner on the North Bridge,
right outside RBS

As the photos show, Munguin himself, was rather busily occupied having top level meetings with government ministers from Holyrood, opposition spokesmen from Westminster and the Rev Stuart Campbell, who gave him a badge, of which he is more than a little proud, but I'd really hoped to have a blether. (Talking of that word, did anything ever come of "Blether Together"?) 

Thanks to Shona, Stewart and Humza for good naturedly humouring our proprietor. He's having the photographs framed expensively for the boardroom!

So sorry I missed you guys, but there's always next year.

I don't know where they will hold it though. Anyone up for the top of Arthur's Seat?

* Police have now confirmed that the number was around 30,000.

And the best response from the No Campaign, in the form of the Scotsman,  was to publish article on an 8 month old report, saying that if we vote for independence, the rest of the UK will try to redraw maritime borders and it could take up to ten years to sort it out. It seems that they want our oil. It suggests to me that that has been central to London's argument all along.