After being struck down by shingles shortly after my last blog the timing of my holiday couldn't have been better.
And I couldn't have chosen a better place to hopefully fully recharge the batteries than Scotland.
We chose to travel by rail so I wouldn't have to drive, and clean, efficient trains got us to Inverness in around 6 and a half hours of travel...marvellous.
It was during the first leg of this journey from Warrington to Glasgow it occurred to me that it could be one of the last times that I could make this trip in this way, as it is possible that, the next time I come up I may need my passport, as Scotland may be a foreign nation.
Some of the things I heard and saw on this journey convinces me more that this would be a great tragedy.
The train was populated by a cosmopolitan group including Asian, Japanese, European, and British.
Notice I used the word British there and I do so because that is how it came across to me, the English were travelling to either visit friends or family or, as ourselves, holidaying.
The scots who joined us at Carlisle were heading home after working for their company, in, England.
These were a typical group of workmates, filling the carriage with noise and banter between themselves but at no time did they give three cheers and sing Flower Of Scotland as they crossed the border just north of Carlisle, nor did they disparage the country they had just left, nor was there any digs at fellow passengers who were clearly from south of Carlisle.
The reason? Cynical people might say " they didn't want to get thrown off the train" or they are against independence anyway" I think it's more the fact that whether we like it or not we are far too similar to be different.
The four peoples that make up the United Kingdom certainly have their own traits and traditions and all have differing views on a wide range of issues, just like any family, in fact all four disagree amongst in each other. However when you look at things more closely there are far more similarities than differences, all of what combines the individual ingredients of Britain were present in that carriage, let's hope that if all of us in that carriage have to repeat the journey again in a year or two we will still be starting and ending in the same country.
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