A flavour of the day
Posted on
September 23, 2013 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
Okay, one last thing. This is the best footage of Saturday we’ve seen:
(Oh, and the Scottish Police Federation are now tweeting a crowd figure of 20,000.)
So the polis agree with me and my weirdy arithmetic then? *wink, smiley, whatever*
Stirring stuff indeed.
Match that ‘better together’.
Looks good…still a year to go…wish I could have been there.
Stu, I think you should give an upfront credit to the creator – it’s a massive piece of work, and besides, he posts on this site…..
He’s showing the video. Pretty big credit right there. No?
Well, we’re ramping up his viewing figures for him 😀
This needs highlighting.
“@Channel4News 1h
So Blair handed PM job to Brown on understanding Brown would NEVER give up #Trident. It’s time for Independence #indyref”
So much for principles.
!Matthew Tempest ?@MattTempest
@Freedland Blair‘s “The Journey” v revealing on Trident. Both he & Brown thought it ridiculous, but bottled out of scrapping it.”
Aw brilliant, this film gives you a real feel for what the actual rally was like. Next year though I’m bringing anything to make a noise, even if its just a pan, we need to make much more noise, fab though love this film, posted to facebook for those that couldn’t make it…labour west coats pal scan go stuff themselves!! ( reference to a postcard from a pal which was pretty much saying why not go home, to Gateshead!! I’m still getting over it!
YES to Independence for Scotland, we live in a great country!!
Just superb, no other word for it.
Your mad stalker has proved the SPF wrong using the gifts of Google maps, counting, arithmetic, bullshit assumptions, unhinged obsession and a deep, burning hatred.
That footage of the start of the rally in the High Street is tremendous. Just getting the camera a wee bit above the crowd completely changes the view, and that long shot of Nicola Sturgeon on stage is stunning.
The crowning glory is seeing our Stu being mobbed for badjis though. Thats brilliant, laughing ma sides aff..
First rate effort and many thanks for taking the time to do this.
Brilliant! 🙂
If there’s a problem with using or moderating tweets on the site I won’t use them Rev. However, that information about Brown Blair and Trident is very revealing and deserves attention.
Great video although I’m sure Joey Lamont would be shocked at the ‘something for nothing’ scenes outside the pub.
The police had told the person doing the behind the scenes YES campaign video it was 20 000, that was around 3pm on the day, so that information was out there for anyone in the MSM who asked.
I was backstage and there was little or no MSM presence. Catalan, Russian and other tele people there but I didn’t see any BBC/STV folks. The usual Scottish paparazzi of course were there.
And I’ve watched the video above and to end on Nicola’s speech is it really. Such a humble, honest, self effacing politician.
Eddi Reader, not my cup of tea, but she was in tears as Nicola was speaking.
To borrow from my Gaelic brethren Hail Alba.
Oh god, you think I’m the mad stalker? (jiggsbro.) Bloody hell. In fact, my name is James Loxley, and I work at the University of Edinburgh and have lived here since moving from Leeds in 1997. You can look me up on the uni website, Facebook, wherever. I have no idea why you should think I’m some sort of nutter. That’s really alarming!
I’m guessing, Subway Lament, but I think the problem you hint at may be posting way off topic in the first few posts of a new thread.
James, we know who the mad stalker is and it isn’t you. He really does stalk RevStu.
Got a badge but bloody forgot to introduce myself, next year
UAw, shucks, I’ll be blushing all the way up Loch Lomondside …
More to come… just as soon as I get a gap in between driving and interview, and maybe some kip.
(Doesn’t take much to ramp up my viewing stat, so thanks!)
Now, what I came here to say is that the early part of the video shows the scrum for the badges, just after yours truly can be seen pointing at Bugger the Panda’s t-shirt. And it shows the guy in the wheelchair I gave the Wings badge to. He seems to have extricated himself from the scrum and I think he’s looking at something in his hand. Does anyone recognise him?
If that’s the case fair enough Morag.
But like I say that information is pretty damn revealing and confirms much of what we already knew about labour leaders and how little principles matter to them. So If I have to wait for a thread on Trident to post it then so be it.
Honestly, James, no one thought you were the mad stalker! Plus your estimate was pretty close to Police Scotland. So congrats! (and yes I did read your posts and admired the methodology!)
“Your mad stalker has proved the SPF wrong using the gifts of Google maps, counting, arithmetic, bullshit assumptions, unhinged obsession and a deep, burning hatred.”
That’s nice. I’ll get round to reading that sometime shortly after the next All-Hades Ice-Skating Championships.
“If there’s a problem with using or moderating tweets on the site I won’t use them Rev. However, that information about Brown Blair and Trident is very revealing and deserves attention.”
I’m not sure I understand.
Just saw me and the girl at 6.02!After I got over the excitement of our new found “fame” it struck me what a fucking impressive sight that is coming over the North Bridge,a wave of hope and determination.Lets do this guys,for ourselves,our friends,our families and those who we wish were still with us to share in the chance we all have to make this country what it can,should and will be.
Hailsa
“I’m not sure I understand.“
I have a post still awaiting moderation Rev Stu and since other posts seem to be trouble free I assumed it was the format used maybe somehow interfering with your moderation system?
It might just be a glitch so apologies on my part if so.
James, I just went and read Mad Stalker Blog, and he thinks 10,000 is a beyond delusional overestimate. But Stu will ban me forever if I link to it.
Anyone else noted the time warp factor on the video sub? 😉
And here’s md hoping next year is even bigger…
Great to meet you on Saturday Stu
And looking forward to next year too Emma (and Colin)
Great day, great folk, great future ahead for us….
Ah, right, I understand now. I hadn’t seen the comment, Akismet was holding it in moderation because of the links. But yes, PLEASE hold back on OT stuff for the first few comments of a post. It’s not much to ask.
Morag,
Could it be Arbroath1320 ? He was in a wheelchair on the day according to his post on Mungiun’s Republic.
Magic memories thanks Stu and all credit to the cameraman.
“Could it be Arbroath1320 ? He was in a wheelchair on the day according to his post on Mungiun’s Republic.”
ARBROATH1320 IS A LADY.
Cheers, Morag and Kininvie, glad to know that – what Jiggsbro said was clearly a ref to what I’ve been saying re attendance on Saturday, hence my alarm! I know the rev has a stalker, so I understand the caution, but I’m kosher, honest…
Understood Rev and will do.
That’s was me taking Aamer Anwar’s and Humza Yousaf picture outside the pub.
Looks like the curse of Dr who has struck again (see byline on the video). 🙂
To be fair I’d do Saturday all over again!
Great to meet you in person Stu, and fellow wingsers
Looking forward to the fight and to next year’s rally/ies already..
Ps Emma and Colin, thanks again for your crackin company… 😉
Morag,
Could it be Arbroath1320 ? He was in a wheelchair on the day according to his post on Mungiun’s Republic.
[Morag bangs head repeatedly on monitor.]
I thought it was Arbroath. That’s why I grabbed a second badge and shoved it into his hand, after nearly knocking over the wheelchair in the scrum. I found out later that Arbroath wasn’t there at that time, and something I knew but had forgotten, that Arbroath is a lady.
I have been banging on incessantly about this on about three threads because I feel such an idiot.
Sorry for the double post…. ;(
ARBROATH1320 IS A LADY
No need to shout! 🙂
What a fantastic video!!! It captured the mood exactly. And ending with Nicola’s speech… wow, just wow. The badge scrum is hilarious. I’m glad people who couldn’t make it will be able to get a sense of the day. Still glowing!!!
what Jiggsbro said was clearly a ref to what I’ve been saying re attendance on Saturday
I don’t think it was, James. Having read what Jiggsboro posted, I immediately went to look at Mad Stalker Blog, and it is featuring some cod arithmetic proving there were much less than 10,000 people there and in fact that the original “police estimate” of 8,300 was right.
I can’t link to it in deference to RevStu’s finer feelings, but it’s clearly what Jiggsboro was talking about. How about a link to your own calculations, because I don’t know where to find them and I’d like to read them.
Father and son both on film at the start. Daddy Juteman grabs hus pint of Guinness, and Juteman junior grabs the deputy first minister. 🙂
The BEST footage??? I was up from about five in the morning on Saturday. I was online, but with my tv on too. I tend to watch BBC Breakfast, and not one mention was made of the impending march and rally. I watched the tv over the course of the day, and must have missed every single instance of any sort of coverage on the Beeb.
I had to send off two emails to the BBC before I got a reply back today. Apparently they don’t preview rallies. Who was asking about rallies? I thought there was a bit of a wee stroll beforehand through the second largest city in Scotland!!! Funny enough, when I am not having elderly moments, I appear to recall coverage of the Orange Walk, G8 protest marches, foxhunting marches, strike marches, anti knife marches, charidee walks with loads of folk, etc. Need I go on? I am going to put that to them and see if I get any more response back.
TBH more than doubling the number from last year in the almost total absence of any advertising or coverage by the MSM is pretty impressive. I had originally planned to be there with another four or five folk, but my plans were slightly scuppered, and I can think of others who would have gone. Are they that worried that if we SEE the upsurge in popularity of the independence movement that the sky will fall in???
why not put link on, im curious to see this blog
everyone should post this on FB / Twitter feeds. Once again our Scottish media have let us down and the people of Scotland too. Clearly the momentum is being stiffled. This is what we’re up against. We all need to get out on the doors, leaflet, stalls, keep it going.
Can’t view the video on this or other thread, just keep getting ‘an error ocurred, please try again later’. Been getting that message since the vids were posted;-(
Maybe just too many trying to view it?
Marcia I’m not a guy!
I know the pseudonym sort of suggests it must honestly I’m not. 😀
Love the link Stu.
Unfortunately it proves what I thought……you were handing out the badges at the very spot I parked up at before the start of the march……damn I was too late :(:
Never mind I finally made it onto a photo or video at last!
I’m the mad one in the wheelchair with the hat on applauding the ‘Trident protest’ as we went down the bridges at about 5 mins 50 secs. You get a fine view of me, my partner doing the hard work and her daughter and grandson following along behind. BRILLIANT!!!! :P:
Certainly have to agree that it is clearly the best footage released so far, and crikey managed to spot myself and the better half marching off at about 4m28s. Great day for all and sundry.
Morag – oh, ok, I don’t read the mad bloke’s blog, so perhaps I jumped to conclusions since I was using Google Maps and some basic maths and hadn’t seen his (no doubt risible) efforts. I posted a brief summary of my reasoning at the end of the first post here today; was just chuffed to see that the fuzz had come round to my way of thinking.
“I’m the mad one in the wheelchair”
Excellent hat 😀
Brilliant video. Kudos Will dude.
Nicola’s speech brings Martin Luther King’s “I have dream” to mind.
A really exceptional lady and we should thank the stars that she is on our side.
Morag – oh, ok, I don’t read the mad bloke’s blog, so perhaps I jumped to conclusions since I was using Google Maps and some basic maths and hadn’t seen his (no doubt risible) efforts. I posted a brief summary of my reasoning at the end of the first post here today; was just chuffed to see that the fuzz had come round to my way of thinking.
Ah, that’s what you were talking about. I read it both times you posted it. Made perfect sense. Also matched what someone else who had experience in counting flocks of birds was saying. Fits with my own impressions from eyeballing last year then trying to figure out how many, and comparing that to this year.
Mad Stalker was figuring out how many people would fit in High Street, 12 abreast. You could google ++ NO CARRIER ++, quickly, before Stu deletes this post with extreme prejudice.
Dear God! Arb – I hope you’re having a laugh. These posts about you have got me rolling on the floor 🙂
@ ianbrotherhood
Your chance to comment on the barnet? Center picture, grey t-shirt @ 10.30. I’m famous. 🙂
Still didn’t get a shinny badge. 🙁
uilleam_beag
Thank you and congrats for the video.
O/T (of course)
If you feel like sharpening your pencils and weighing in again after all that euphoria, Prof Tomkins has a new blog post out that could do with a bit of refutation! (not that you’ll sway him, but it’s good practice)
http://notesfromnorthbritain.wordpress.com/
Rev. Stuart Campbell says:
“I’m the mad one in the wheelchair”
Excellent hat
Glad you approve Stu, hate to think I’d let the side down! 😆
what Jiggsbro said was clearly a ref to what I’ve been saying re attendance on Saturday
With respect, it clearly wasn’t. Not least because you’re not a mad stalker, you didn’t make bullshit assumptions and you didn’t ‘prove’ the SPF’s 20,000 figure wrong. I’m also guessing you don’t have an unhinged obsession and a deep, burning hatred. Or that you keep them very quiet. But my apologies if you thought, even for a moment, that your sanity was being questioned. I’m afraid I assumed that most posters were familiar with the Rev’s secret admirer.
Ooh, I like the appearance of the “deletes with extreme prejudice” effect. There is another word that would get it, but I think I might be skating on slightly thin ice on this one.
Jeannie says:
Dear God! Arb – I hope you’re having a laugh. These posts about you have got me rolling on the floor
Well I’m not known as the nutter from hell for no reason at all you know!
I leave all the serious discussions to every one else, I’m the one who’ll bring up the lighter side of any debate, mainly cause I know NUFFINK! 😆
Morag – had a look at that blog now and see that you’re right – that’s scarily close in approach! But his problem is that he is counting the High St only, and at the lightest crowd density he can reasonably use – but the latter move isn’t justified, and he then has to ignore the fact that the march at one point filled the marked off road all the way from G4 Bridge to Calton Hill, undoubtedly at a reasonable average density. Oof, the internet’s a scary place sometimes…
Cheers, Jiggsbro, clearly just an alarming (to me) coincidence – I hadn’t seen the blog you were referring to when I posted, and didn’t imagine anyone else would be daft enough to mess about on Google Maps and with formulae for calculating crowd density…
If you haven’t named and credited the videographer you really should, only fair to use material with proper attribution.
Anne (@annewitha_e) says:
everyone should post this on FB / Twitter feeds. Once again our Scottish media have let us down and the people of Scotland too. Clearly the momentum is being stiffled. This is what we’re up against. We all need to get out on the doors, leaflet, stalls, keep it going.
Well I’ve done my bit, well as much as I can Anne. I’ve posted a link on Twitter and Kiltr just hope it goes viral! Wonder how Lamont and the Red Guard would cope if it did! :D:
@CameronB-
Afraid I can’t see anyone with grey t-shirt at 10.30, and most of the male barnets on display seem to be standard No 3s and 4s.
Curiouser and curiouser…I’m now half-expecting to find that you sport the same head-hair as the dude portrayed in your avatar, which is certainly nothing to be ashamed of.
Nice video, it does give a good overview and captures the flavour of the day. I was hoping to see the footage from the remote controlled flying thingy and it did not disappoint.
“O/T (of course)If you feel like sharpening your pencils and weighing in again after all that euphoria, Prof Tomkins has a new blog post out that could do with a bit of refutation! (not that you’ll sway him, but it’s good practice) http://notesfromnorthbritain.wordpress.com/“
I’m not often one for getting too involved but the nonsense on there needed addressed. My comment is still awaiting moderation.
23 September, 2013 at 8:56 pm
Rev, as you’re ramping up his viewing figures – any this content that’s of interest – he can have http://instagram.com/p/endGQkNlBU/
The start – up high – from the other side of the street.
@cameron b
Is that you on the right hand side of the screen in the grey t-shirt?
@Morag,
‘just after yours truly can be seen pointing at Bugger the Panda’s t-shirt.’
Ah that was you. I was talking to, what I now realise, was another Morag entirely up on the hill and we were getting on great but now I know why she looked so baffled when, as I was leaving I told her I loved her comments on wings!
Silly me. That was 10.30am @ 00:53, doh.
Och this is just great. I found it difficult to hear all of the speakers because I had one eye on my wee boy who was running around all over the place. Nicola was fantastic wasn’t she?
Also, despite seeing so many pictures and clips now, I still haven’t seen myself…phew!
I believe that is coverage from Russian Television. How ridiculous that we have to get our coverage that way
@Cameron B
Ah – gotcha!
Jeannie
Center screen, 10.30am @ 00:53. The bald chap. 🙂
Still unable to watch this vid as I’m getting the ‘an error has ocurred’ message. Tried copy + pasting vid url into google but search returned no match for the address – anyone else having this problem?
I was talking to, what I now realise, was another Morag entirely up on the hill
Regrettably, I feature on that video from about 58 seconds when I’m caught making some inane comment about wearing the flag so I don’t have to carry it, and then pointing at Bugger the Panda’s t-shirt. There is then a cut to after the really serious Shiny Badge Scrum, as I have both got mine and given another to the no doubt totally undeserving stranger who happened to be in the way, and I’m busy trying to pin my spoils to the aforementioned rugby shirt.
The guy I stupidly mistook for Arbroath, due to the coincidence of his being right there and in a wheelchair when the badges made their appearance (and a couple of other people saying, I assume that’s Arbroath), is seen emerging from the scrum looking a bit bemused. He’s recognisable at 1:13, if I only knew who it was. (He should treasure the badge as a small recompense for being almost flattened in the rush.)
I see now that the coverage it is not from RT . I have seen lots of pictures from RT but no moving ones.
Sitting on a bollard then mooching for a badge in the first couple of minutes.
T-Jenny
No problems at all. Could it be the settings on your computer?
Go to Youtube and search under March and Rally fpr Scottish Independence Edinburgh.
The actual link is below not sure if it helps but here it is:
@CameronB-
With dark jacket slung casually over left shoulder?
If that be you mister, I don’t see any barnet to comment on, unless you’ve grown something unusually slender from the back of yer heid.
More power to ye anyway – ‘Baldies For Independence!‘
Uilleam Beg said:
UAw, shucks, I’ll be blushing all the way up Loch Lomondside …
More to come… just as soon as I get a gap in between driving and interview, and maybe some kip.
(Doesn’t take much to ramp up my viewing stat, so thanks!)
I loved the quadricopter. The first time I saw it, I didn’t have a handle on the size, and thought “that’s modern – looks like a UFO!” Then I realised it was only about 18 inches across and as cute as ninepence. I saw the cops talking to you about it, presumably as intrigued as I was. I came across and exchanged a couple of words with you and you posed for a photo with it – and showed me a bit of how it worked.
I’m massively impressed by the quality of the video you were able to obtain with it. You were fuelling some rather strange comments about drones and eyes in the sky though!
O/T
Inspired by a “Bagpipe Flash Mob” in a California shopping mall, I was wondering wether they, or other forms of flash mob activity, might be used in the coming year to get folks attention onto the independence referendum; e.g., for canvassing and leafleting for YES in public areas.
Thoughts anyone?
Dave McEwan Hill
I can’t remember which thread, but there was a short RT clip posted the other day. Essentially a 360 from pretty near center of the the hill, I think.
O/T
But Stewart Hosie has just tweeted he had a debate with George Robertson at Abertay University with 250 attending.
Results Before Debate
21% Yes, 59% No and 20 % D/K
Results after debate
51% Yes, 38% No, 11% D/K
Inspired by a “Bagpipe Flash Mob” in a California shopping mall, I was wondering wether they, or other forms of flash mob activity, might be used in the coming year to get folks attention onto the independence referendum; e.g., for canvassing and leafleting for YES in public areas.
Thoughts anyone?
Ooh, that’s good. I saw a similar one where an entire symphony orchestra appeared to perform the last movement of Beethoven’s 9th. Towards the end it was revealed that most of the interested-looking bystanders were in fact the chorus, all ready to join in.
Needs a very well-rehearsed group of musicians well used to performing together.
aaaaaarrrrrgh !!! more close ups of my shiny bald spot … only rescued when I was swamped by the hordes of WoSsers hunting their free badge .. 🙂 🙂
Fabulous footage , and definitely the best I’ve seen ….
Leaves a warm feeling inside after watching that. 🙂
O/T
But I think one of our regulars here is featured in this BBC article on Scottish renactments.
My son had a cool idea today.
When I got back from the march on Saturday, I gave him my Yes wristband (he couldn’t go as he was working).
He wore it to uni today and it triggered a conversation about independence with a fellow student who is a don’t know. He said the guy wasn’t totally convinced but seemed to be thinking about what he said.
Anyway, my son said, once his classmate is convinced tat he will vote Yes, he’s going to pass on the wristband to him and tell him to do the same. Sort of like the movie, Pay it Forward.
Anyway, I thought it was a new approach to spreading the word. Convert a friend and send them off to do the same. 🙂
@Amadeus Minkowski
I think Flash Mob activity would be a great way to get people’s attention. I’d love to do that.
@AmadeusMinkowski ,
That’s fantastic! I’m afraid I don’t have the talent to take part in anything musical. Culd probably stretch to a spot of yarn bombing, though!
@ Dave McEwan Hill, RT link:
http://rt.com/in-motion/uk-scotland-independence-rally-197/
@Betsy
What’s yarn bombing? I’ll just say I’m upferrit anyway!
I am very, very, extremely disappointed.
I didn’t get a baj AND I don’t see myself in the vid.
🙁
Jeannie says:
@Amadeus Minkowski I think Flash Mob activity would be a great way to get people’s attention. I’d love to do that.
I’ll second that Jeannie! :D:
I have always wanted to be able to play an instrument, any kind but the pipes in particular. I can’t see me doing that now more’s the pity. :(:
One is for sure though I just love the pipes. I always watch the Tattoo on T.V. but to be honest it’s only really for the pipes and drums. :D:
I suggested flash mobs several months back, and the general consensus then was that it would be difficult to ensure there would be no blow back. Hey ho.
I swear to God I’m insta-banning the next person who triggers a [cite] tag. For life.
Gawd – Maigrit Curran looking more like Zelda out of Terrahawks every time I see her.
Stairheid Rammy in fulll lying bot mode on STV – truly impressive.
I’ve love to see Curran try and talk without using her hands..she’s been shuffling an invisible pack for the past 2 minutes
I am sorry I didn’t get to meet Rev Stu and the Wingers. Being a martyr to the sciatica, I came up on the shuttle bus and when I left (grandbairn coming for a sleepover so earlier than I would have liked) there was no way I could have got through the crowd so I went down the scenic route!
I think Flash Mob activity would be a great way to get people’s attention. I’d love to do that.
Depends what you mean by a “flash mob”. In the original sense, it was a mob of people apparently spontaneously appearing at the location of something in the news. Sometimes they were orchestrated. I think it’s an Asimov story. “The permanent floating riot club.” Not a good idea.
These musical performances are something very different. I have only seen a couple, but they were both put on by accomplished musicians. This is something to be tackled by a very very good instrumental group able to play without music. Clearly, it’s well suited to a pipe band. But it’s not something you can hope to pull off with a scratch collection of motley amateur volunteers.
ETA: Just noticed the “orchestrated” thing – not intentional!
That’s no’ Rev Stu – he’s seven fit ta’…! 😉
Could it not be something really simple like a wee bit of line dancing, starts off with one person, then two more join in, then some more, something like that? We’d still need to practise, of course, but could be do-able?
I think it’s an Asimov story. “The permanent floating riot club.”
Actually, I think it was a Larry Niven story, predicated on teleportation booths.
Aha! I just spotted my own flag at the left, around 6:46 to 7:02, same as my gravatar, except I added a 10cm Yes badge in the middle.
Could it not be something really simple like a wee bit of line dancing, starts off with one person, then two more join in, then some more, something like that? We’d still need to practise, of course, but could be do-able?
I don’t know. The performances I’ve seen have had the impact they had because the performers were very good indeed at what they were doing. An unskilled effort might just attract derision. I think it needs an established band, or orchestra, or choir, with plenty of rehearsal as for any other public performance.
Actually, I think it was a Larry Niven story, predicated on teleportation booths.
Definitely teleportation booths. Niven, that’ll be right. I always liked him better than Asimov anyway. Thanks.
Marcia – Thanks. However, I tried the ‘switch it off and switch it on again’ wheeze, and that seems to have done the trick. (Why does that work?)
Agree, great vid + sound – made my Scottish heart swell with pride all over again:-)
I think National Collective might be up for the Flash Mob idea and TradYes boasts some seriously good instrumentalists!
@Sheena Wellington
Thanks very much for your performance on Saturday.
@Morag
“Needs a very well-rehearsed group of musicians well used to performing together.”
That will be us WoSsers then? 😆 😆 😆
Well, I’m an amateur musician and I have some idea how difficult that stunt is to pull off. Which doesn’t mean it’s not doable, just that it should be done by people who have the skill to do it, and not hashed up by people who think it looks easy.
Sorry a didny get a chance tae speak to you Stu,I was a wee bit later getting there missed out on a badge (that was me wearing the Che Guevara t- shirt), you were in the middle of quite a lengthy interview. I would be interested to know Who was it for , and where /when/ if we can expect to see it in the future? If you don’t mind me asking .
@Sheena Wellington
Loved your singing on Saturday. Do you happen to know if any of it was recorded? Some of us are desperate to hear it again.
@David Smith
And he fires thunderbolts out of his arse!
Oops I hear a claxton 🙂
Jeannie says:
@Sheena Wellington
Loved your singing on Saturday. Do you happen to know if any of it was recorded? Some of us are desperate to hear it again.
Not the full rendition, but all there is so far on YouTube:
@Morag
I’m fed up – I never get to do anything, just because I cannae sing, I cannae dance and I cannae play an instrument (except Land of the Silver Birch on the guitar and you don’t get much mileage out of that, to be honest). I don’t want to re-enact Flashdance – I just want to play wi the big yins 🙁
@Kenny
Thanks for that 🙂 (Happy again)
I’m the guy with the badge and wheelchair; thanks Morag for scrumming on my behalf!
I got a bit surrounded in tall, but friendly folks and lost the flag before the off…
I spent most of the rally on the roadway by the barriers next to the stage left wing with a good view of stage, screen and “coming next”… 🙂
@fluffnik
Yay! Mystery solved.
Aw, fluffnik, you just made my day! Or night or something.
I was so sure you were with the Wings group, and someone said, will that be Arbroath, and I had totally forgotten that Arbroath was of the feminine persuasion, and being easily led I assumed they were right. But it was all a bit hectic as Stu pulled out the badges at that moment and there was no chance to talk to you.
I was caught behind your wheelchair and practically fell over you trying to get my badge. Believing you to be a Wings person I was determined you should have one because you were there at the kill so to speak, but Stu couldn’t see beyond the outstretched hands right in front of him at that moment. So I grabbed one for you.
I felt really bad about almost flattening you, and then when it turned out you weren’t Arbroath, I had the collywobbles thinking you were someone who had just happened to pass by at the crucial moment and be pretty much assaulted.
So you’re a Wingnut, and you got your badge, and it’s all worked out fine.
I’m fed up – I never get to do anything, just because I cannae sing, I cannae dance and I cannae play an instrument (except Land of the Silver Birch on the guitar and you don’t get much mileage out of that, to be honest). I don’t want to re-enact Flashdance – I just want to play wi the big yins
I know, I know. But I sing and play and I practise quite a lot, and I don’t think I’d have the nerve to get into something like that unless maybe as part of the choir. The entire effect, really, is generated by the fact that a top quality performance gradually or suddenly emerges from what at first seems just to be a single busker. I don’t think an ad hoc effort would work.
fluffnik says:
I’m the guy with the badge and wheelchair; thanks Morag for scrumming on my behalf!I got a bit surrounded in tall, but friendly folks and lost the flag before the off…I spent most of the rally on the roadway by the barriers next to the stage left wing with a good view of stage, screen and “coming next”… 🙂
Jeez how did you manage that one fluffnik?
I was in the same place and the organisers moved us off, down the hill a bit and then up the steep pathway. They took us all the way round and then up the steep grass hill to the area where there was supposed to be seating but obviously by the time we got there the whole area was packed. Net result…… back down the steep grass hill and return to the big screen to the left of the big pillars. If anything that was the only down side of Saturday. I’m just pissed that we were moved away from the barrier yet from photos and video I’ve seen no one else was. :(:
I got a shove up the hill from a pal who found my in the crowd which combined with plenty “excuse me, terribly sorry, no feeling in the wheelchair”s saw me through…
😉
I know the feeling, I’m thinking of getting a couple of air horns fitted to my chair. 😆
My partner got some help from some people going up the hill for which we were very grateful, not so sure we’d have made it otherwise.
I’m surprised you were able to stay on the roadway, as I mentioned we were advised that we had to move because it was the designated emergency route and they duly moved us! :(:
Nice vid 🙂
By the way, does anyone know what that song was Jai McDowall was singing at around 9:20 or so on the video there?
Tried Googling the lyrics and got nothing. It’s been stuck in my head ever since I heard it on the day and I’m trying to find it again 🙂
Sheena Wellington,
Just have to say – love to hear you sing A Man’s a Man – watched it on Youtube many times and it still makes me very emotional. Great stuff. Unfortunately, wasn’t their on Saturday to hear you live.
@ uilleam_beag
Thanks for the video well worth all your effort.
Maybe we could have a flashmob of spoon players – any takers?
Seriously, love the idea of a flashmob – group of good fiddle players would be fantastic.
I’m not volunteering mind – spend more time tuning the darned thing – as for a piano it’s not the most practical for this kind of event 😉
Morag,
“Wingnut”?!? That one could stick!
We are all wingnuts and proud of it.
I noticed that too (wingnut) has a ring to it dontcha think 🙂
To be honest, I’m not really going to bash the police over their original figures. They have come out with a new figure, and am pleased that they have gone with a more realistic figure.
I remember before the march, then during it, and then the events on the hill, that all the officers seemed to be walking about with smiles on their faces. I think they were pleasantly surprised at the extremely good natured-ness of the whole event.
It must have been one helluva change for them …and as I say, a nice surprise to boot …that they were having a really easy day of it; no fighting, no arrests, a bit of banter, helping folk with families. A complete change from footie matches, orange walks, republican walks, or whatever else that leaves them feeling uneasy for most of the day.
In some of the photo’s, I did notice officers smiling away. I would like to think, that when they did return to their stations, that they told their colleagues of how the day went, and how even they, felt a wave of optimism about the referendum.
I can’t believe for a second, that none of the officers later that day, thought, ‘You know what, I’m voting ‘Yes’. This has been a real eye-opener. I’m actually blown away by what I’m seeing. This can’t be a bad thing as we’ve been told.’
You never know…
The suggestion of flash mobbing is just one of some great ideas now being pushed forward, I think it has huge potential. If Yes or some other organisation can start the ball rolling it will appeal to the very people we are trying to get to come out and vote Yes. I’m think some kind of modern Scottish themed act involving a group such as the young pipers who appeared on stage on Calton Hill. Imagine something appearing on Buchanan Street on a Saturday afternoon, tied in with Yes handouts for the crowd encouraging them to get out and vote Yes. They could then jump on a train and go through to Edinburgh and do similar on Princess Street. With proper funding it could be done every week.
There is a good article here.
http://bit.ly/1dFyeyD
Hey Rev WTF is a cite tag?
re: wingnut
I believe the most common usage is in the US where it is short for “right wing nut job” so not very accurate to describe our little club 🙂
It’s subversive.
I think JLT is exactly right. I have absolutely no complaints about the police. They were pleasant, friendly and unobtrusive. And I think, Yes voters in the main. The carry-on with the numbers is SOP for any event like this, and it would have been exactly the same in the unlikely event of Better No getting 25,000 people on that hill.
Something just occurred to me.
Last year, before the march, there was some MSM pubicity. It took the form of various unionist worthies solemnly hoping the day would pass without any violence, and things like that. The insinuation being that we were a nasty bunch who couldn’t quite be trusted not to trash the place.
Very early on in the afternoon there was that momentary scuffle involving the three guys with the Union flag at the back of the Gardens, and they were hauled off by the police. That made the newspaper websites and the BBC almost immediately, and was the image that was portrayed in some papers the next morning.
This year I don’t remember anyone from the No side commenting in advance at all. The “let’s just pray that this separatist demonstration passess off peacefully” line wasn’t trotted out at all. Nothing was trotted out.
And nothing happened. No unionists, no union flags, nobody even handing out UKOK leaflets despite the BBC’s nasty little piece of play-acting. And the people on the rally were, absolutely to a man, lawabiding, non-violent and good-humoured. Nobody got arrested. The police spent their time benignly surveying the scene or chatting to people nearby. Most people even cleared up their own litter (and sometimes other people’s litter too).
Did the media realise this time there wasn’t even the outside possibilty of portraying the march as some sort of violent demonstration by extremists, and just decided to blank it completely?
Morag,
I agree the police were largely good humoured and friendly. On the hill, they were mostly deployed around the National Monument to prevent people climbing on to it, for sound reasons. I did overhear a sergeant explain to his troops that they could only politely ask people not to do so. He then said, “If that doesn’t work, lift them.”
Interesting that he was instructing his officers to knowingly falsely arrest people when no offence had taken place. Thankfully the officers on the ground had a bit more charm about them, and people responded well to them.
What a great day.
I don’t wholly blame that sergeant. If people were determinedly climbing on to the monument despite the charm of the officers asking them to desist, they were asking for a bit of hassle. Lifting one or two pour encourager les autres might have been a sensible pre-emptive strategy if it had come to that.
It didn’t come to that, because the police were nice and the people at the rally were nice. But if they hadn’t been, the police were entitled to take some action I think.
I’ve been thinking about songs with quick easy choruses and this one sprang lithely to mind,
Chorus:
Come along, come along, let us foot it out together
Come along, come along, be it fair or stormy weather
With the hills of home before us
And the purple of the heather
Let us sing in happy chorus, come along, come along
So gaily sings the lark
And the sky is all awake
With the promise of the day
For the road we gladly take
And its heel and toe and forward
Bidding farewell to the town
And the welcome that awaits us
Ere the sun goes down
Its the call of sea and shore
Its the tang of bog and peat
Its the scent of briar and myrtle
That puts magic in out feet
So on we go rejoicing
Over bracken over stile
And its soon we will be tramping
O’er the last long mile
I’m up for the Flashmob – but where do we hide our clothes at the start !!!!!!
I just noticed something. Above, Uilleam remarked that the piping sound track to the earlier part of the march was a recording of the band playing while we were held up at the foot of the hill. So it was.
At one point, they played “The Battle’s O’er”. I could just hear my own voice, very faintly, singing along with it. That is one hell of an audio pick-up you have on that thing, Uilleam.
In terms of the police I thought they were terrific on Saturday.
Hell at one point my partner suggested to an officer that he might consider ‘losing’ his uniform and joining in. He replied “why should I I’m getting paid to do this!” with a fantastic huge grin on his face! :D:
I had a slightly similar experience last year (I didn’t happen to talk to any of the cops this year). While were were held up at the bottom of the Mound waiting our turn to go down the steps into the Gardens, I got chatting with a policewoman. She said she’d have liked to be actually marching herself, but unfortunately it clashed with her work shift. Then she said, “But what the heck, I’m here anyway, and I’m allowed to talk to people and be nice to people.”
@Morag,
Yes, the piping soundtrack was overlaid, and came from just after the bottom of North Bridge, as I didn’t have a clean audio from the band at the start of the march; One Way or Another was performed by Dirty Harry (a Blondie tribute band) who were on early in the schedule, while the march was held up at the big screen at the bottom of Calton Hill for some reason. Sorry @Oneironaut, I don’t know the name of the song Jai McDowell performed, but it was his opening number if that’s any help.
As to the comments on the police presence there, I thought it was fantastically well done. There were just enough officers on hand in case anything kicked off yet sufficiently unobtrusive so most people probably never even noticed them. The couple of dealings I had with them were entirely painless and totally polite and smiley-faced.
@uilleam_beag
Great video, thanks.
BTW, I’m the gorgeous creature standing to the left of Morag with wings baseball cap on and pint in hand 🙂
http://youtu.be/sRQkKiFQIqw?t=1m
Brilliant Brilliant footage. ;o)
Sorry if this has been posted already guys… I like this one too…
ooh actually my dress is rather lovely – I should have summoned the courage to speak to my heroes.
there’ll be 500,000 next year at least…… let’s do it….. keep the passionate fires burning to inspire the people who are confused with doubt….. everybody i have spoken to since the weekend, who were going for ‘no’ or ‘undecided’ have had a shift of perspective…. we experienced a potent energy on saturday and we gotta take it out into society, as we are up against it with the media hounds….
full power to get the Lion ROARING against the hyenas and jackals
When is the bitter together Rally? lol
I could have sworn I saw Chris Hoy at the rally … the bloke looked like he was sooking on a wasp but perhaps it was a look-a-like!
@ Oneironaut
The song Jai is singing here is called “Criminal”. It’s a new original song that hasn’t officially been released yet. It it due to be included on his new album which is expected in Spring 2014.
In the meantime, Jai just announced the release of another song yesterday. You might want to check it out in ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/fall-back-down-ep/id712219718