4 days to go

What an extraordinary day.

There were so many images I could have blipped that I have put a few more on my Flickr site.

They include the morning “Pied Piper” procession of YES musicians and supporters along the front in Oban to the Station Square and the remarkable scenes there with well over 250 people listening to music, singing and passing out flags and leaflets and posters. . Then there was the car cavalcade that left Oban with around 25 vehicles, doubled in size at Inveraray (where the car park was a sea of saltires) and went on to Lochgilphead . The local YES team had to take over a church hall to feed and water all those who had arrived yet remarkably we all knew that far more than our number were still out campaigning in their own communities around Argyll & Bute.

We then drove in convoy back to Oban, getting lots of thumbs up, flashed headlights and cheery waves from those we passed and were greeted by a spontaneous flash mob on the green beside the Corran Halls with dancing that involved more and more passers by.

Finally in the evening there was a ceilidh at which the whole company presented a cake in the shape of the Stone of Destiny to Iain Hamilton’s wife , on the occasion of his 89th birthday.

I have never spent a campaign day like it. As someone said when we were standing in the sun amongst the dancers “Politics from Westminster seems always to be against something. Now our politics is enthusiastically and happily for something - and look at the difference. “

And what of the NO campaign ? Well two very bad tempered NO campaigners swept along the Oban esplanade distributing leaflets that had the word “LIES” in large capitals on the front accompanied by a stretch limo with a huge “NO Thanks” poster and their shop window was decorated with negative quotes ….and that was about it. NO presence to speak of , no positive case and certainly nothing of the enthusiasm, joy and thirst for change that was seen most strongly when Dougie MacLean, en route for Perth after a concert in Oban lat night, sang Caledonia without am amplifier in the Station Square. The whole crowd joined in, but not stridently. There was a quiet intensity to the singing that was electrifying and which literally brought tears to the eyes of many, including me.

So that moment has to be my blip.