St. Andrews Day

Today is St Andrews Day, the patron saint of Scotland.
And also a public holiday.


So was it sheer coincidence that the national strike by NHS workers would take place today?

I had planned to blip some strikers outside Stirling University but when I returned from my fitness class they had all gone.

Instead I decided to celebrate St Andrews Day with this photo. (Thanks to the blip project Scotland The World Over I had a spare one to hand).

On a clear day you can see the Trossachs but today it is murky and overcast and all you can see is a section of Gallows Hill and Park of Keir looking towards Dunblane.

Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, and in 2006, the Scottish Parliament designated St Andrew's Day as an official bank holiday.

Although most commonly associated with Scotland, Saint Andrew is also the patron saint of Greece, Romania, Russia and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

In Germany, the feast day is celebrated as Andreasnacht ("St Andrew's Night"), in Austria with the custom of Andreasgebet ("St Andrew's Prayer"), and in Poland as Andrzejki ("Andrew's").