Flying proudly

The flag on Edinburgh Castle is at half-mast. This Saltire is not. I've posted the one I prefer - the one which looks forward.

I started school when Thatcher came into power, in that strange part of the west of Scotland which could still elect a Tory MP or two. With a staunchly Conservative & UNIONIST granny dominating my (maternal) family, politics were banned from family parties. Gran's children, in-laws & grandchildren held, & still hold, wildly differing political views but with a similar passion. She wasn't particularly fond of Thatcher though. Preferred Heseltine. Maybe it was the hair.

My paternal grandfather worked in the steelworks, as his father had, and was broken by that work. For the rest of his life, he looked out from his house onto the mothballed railway line, leading to the closed steelworks. The communities have still not recovered. I have a very strong memory of the school Lollipop lady dancing in the street when Thatcher was ousted, by her own party.

I grew up in Thatcher's Britain. I don't want to grow old in the reboot.