It was an interesting two weeks to be in Scotland on holiday and it’s got even more interesting since we’ve come home.
During our time in Scotland (on Islay and in Oban) we had several conversations about the #IndyRef. The first one was with two couples who we met in a coffee shop on Islay. They were retired and probably in their 60s. They had heard us chatting and realised of course that we were from “Down South” and I was wearing a University of Gloucestershire hoody. They struck up a conversation with us and soon made clear they were firmly in the “No” camp. They just could not understand why Scotland would leave the union. They spoke eloquently and passionately.
A few days later we visited the beautiful fishing village of Portnahaven. The village church was open and they were offering tea and cake (sold to help the window fund.) We called in and two lovely ladies severed us. We got chatting and I made some quip about only having English money. And one of the ladies then turned serious and, almost in tears, said she was hoping and praying for a “No” vote. As we left (having established that I was a Methodist minister) she said to me “You will pray for us won’t you?”
The next day we called into the island’s Gaelic centre. (Anne wanted to make some enquiries about a possible Scottish link in her family tree.) Two of the ladies at reception chatted to us and as they looked into Anne’s query, the BBC’s Gavin Esler passed by. (He had come in to record an interview with “Yes” and “No” representatives from the island.) I then asked one of the ladies (probably in her 70s) what her voting intentions were. Her face lit up and she said “I’ll be voting ‘Yes’. The time has come!” We talked some more and she made it clear that her decisions were based as much on emotion as anything else.
On our final day we were in the café of the Kilchoman Distillery. As we drove in to the complex there was a prominent “Better together” banner. The aforementioned Gavin Esler was wandering around and he’d come to interview the owner of the distillery. The owner came into the café and one of the waitresses asked him how the interview went. “I expect you said you’d be voting ‘No’ as usual” she joked.
We then became party to a really interesting debate. Two of the waitresses were adamantly “Yes” but one was wavering. The owner asked her had she decided. “I think I’ll vote ‘Yes’ I may as well give it a go”
The owner got very animated. “It’s not just a case of ‘giving it a go’! Once Scotland goes that’s it. No way back.”
“Oh well if goes wrong I’ll just go to England” she said in all seriousness.
A few days later we were in Oban. As we drove along the Esplanade the lampposts were festooned with “Yes” posters. The next morning these had been joined by “No” posters. On the third morning the “No” posters had been torn down.
Most people we were introduced to at church on Sunday morning were “No” but this seemed to be against the feeling in the town.
Back home it strikes me that this huge decision for Scotland and the rest of the UK is Heart versus Head. The heart the passion is near the surface for most people. But the “Yes” people seemed to be more passionate with a lot of resentment at “that lot in Westminster”
I can understand the “heart” a bit. Being Welsh there is always part of me that feels angry toward “the establishment”.
Similarly many of the resentments the pro Yes Scots have I share e.g. privatisation of the NHS, not wanting Trident nuclear weapons, cuts to public services. And these things clearly drive the Scots who are pro-independence. And yet the head part of me kicks in and realises the consequences.
We lose the checks and balances Scotland brings .
Come the 19th September we’ll know.
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