History in the making

    At our first dinner together, our guide Anne shared with us some of the considerations regarding the "elephant in the room," the decision the Scots were having to make as they voted on Scottish independence the next day. She explained how it was a struggle for them, because many of them wanted to retain the financial and political stability they have as a part of the United Kingdom, but at the same time the Scottish are very proud and nationalistic people and have a hard time not having independence. Given the history of the rivalry between the English and Scottish, the desire for independence seems natural. She said it was difficult as a Scottish person to admit that you don't hope for an independence vote, because you would feel like you were betraying your country. This explained why there was much more "yes" propaganda than "no," because the no camp tended to remain quiet. She encouraged us to visit local pubs to hear the local take on the issue. On our walk through town, we found an impromptu parade traveling down the Royal Mile to a "yes" rally. There was so much energy and excitement that we decided to follow! We attached a short video taken on a cell phone to give a quick glimpse of the proceedings. The people protesting felt that the BBC was giving a biased representation of the Scottish wishes and was failing to adequately cover the "yes" side, so they are singing "Where's your cameras, BBC?"