Scotland bottles it. Shocker.

The title of this post is  a post I made on facebook last night, after coming home from the pub. I may have put a few hackles up with what is possibly an inflamatory and condescending comment, especially since I have chosen not to live in that country. I stand by my statement.

I have tried to put the sentiment into clearer, more verbose English, and even tried to translate it into French, so I can convey that sentiment to those here in Quebec who ask how I feel this morning, but I just can't. There is a subtlety and depth the the phrase "bottling it" that is beyond my skills to translate. It is a uniquely Scottish phrase, for what is an apparently in-built and unavoidable part of the Scottish psyche.

Anyway, enough wallowing. The people of Scotland have decided, by a whopping 10% margin. Onwards.

Last night, a few of the members of our meetup group, and other Scots got together in a local bar, and were joined by journalists from the Gazette, le Devoir and CBC. And with that, the spotlight leaves Scotland to muddle through as best it can, and the Scots in Montreal fade back into the background.

CBC Montreal News

So, yeah, turns out the TV did want to talk to me. I got a call this morning from nice chap at CBC Montreal asking if I would like to do a spot for the evening news. Once I realised I didn't have to go into the studio, and that he would come to me, I said yes.

Of course, I wasn't dressed for TV, just in scrappy jeans and a T-shirt, but when I phoned K to tell her I had been asked, she ever so kindly offered to drop off a shirt and jacket at work for me!
The interview was conducted just outside Ste Justine, and was about 5-10 minutes in length, which is becoming quite easy for me to do on this subject, after the latest practice. Of course they only used 2 sound bites from those 5 minutes, but at least I wasn't quoted out of context. It would be nice to get my hands on the full interview, but I doubt that'll happen.


Here's the link. I'm between 5.00 and 5.24 minutes into the clip.

CBC Web Player here.

So, it turns out all I had to do to get on TV was write a request in my blog! Who knew? So, anyone out there want to give me a million bucks? Anyone?

Of course, nothing I say here will have an effect on the result, but I do feel engaged in the debate, if even in a small way, and to me, that is one of the greatest things about this debate, that it has engaged the population, of Scotland, and elsewhere, in a way that politics does not normally do. If even a fraction of the energy and interest that has been generated in this campaign continues to be put to use, then no matter the outcome, Scotland will win.

Is that the end of it? Not at all.  There's talk of cameras crashing our Scottish event tomorrow evening, and there's another CBC radio show that wants me for a debrief on Friday, but I doubt I can go due to the time of recording. I already had to turn them down today, but they did talk to me, and I get a mention in this segment they did with my friend Angus Bell.

CBC Radio, Daybreak Interview

The second, and last radio interview I have been invited to do here in Montreal was this morning, this time in English, on the CBC Daybreak show. This was an 8 minute segment, with just two of us in the studio, so there was a lot more back and forth to be had than the previous show with more people having their say. Also, as the discussion was in English, I had less fears over expressing myself, which helped too. The interview was well done, and the presenter skillfully managed to get the points they must have found interesting from the pre-interviews across in the time.


I'm not sure if it's geographically locked for listeners outside Canada. Apparently I sound more Scottish than normal in the interview. I can't say it was intentional, but it is extremely likely.

So that's that then. All awaiting the Thursday vote now, and back to obscurity for me. Unless there are any last minute interviews, maybe for TV? No-one has contacted me for a TV interview yet! Anyone?

Photos Of Montreal Embody The Essence Of The City

K has an eagle eye, and spotted me and the girls in one of these pics by photographer Sylvain Quidot.

Festive update

The last few months have been rather hectic, and vacation free, so I was sorely in need of some time off come the Christmas break. We've managed to squeeze a lot into the time off, considering we've been dealing with gastro, and record breaking blizzards (45.6 cm in the city a record for snowfall in one day). All I can say is now that winter is here in earnest, my snowboard is primed and ready, although there has been a bit of a thaw the last day or two.

A video of Montreal after the snow storm here.

All this meant LP and I made a lazy igloo in the garden by blocking up the windows of the play house.

As always, pics under the cut. Click them to enlarge.

The Scotsman abroad IV

Taking things one step further than joining the St Andrew's Society, then starting our own Scots in Montreal group, I applied for our group to be a part of an umbrella group called the Quebec Thistle Council. This is of course, another group of really old folks, not doing very much and calling themselves Scottish. The guys who run it are of course all members of the Black Watch. But that is almost besides the point.

The one thing they do do  every years however, is run an Awards Dinner. At this event, they award various Scottish Cultural events, such as Piping, Scottish Cuisine, Piping and being a member of their group. I am being flippant of curse, the full list of awards can be seen here (as a pdf).

Anyway, I went along, and wasn't suprised in the slightest at the average age of the participants (I would guess at 60-70). And of course I was asked, in a thick Quebec french accent, if I had any Scottish ancestry, a question which always makes me smile (full highland regalia, which I was wearing, means nothing at these events).

Other highlights of the evening were talking to a gentleman who was classmates with Prince Phillip at Gordonstone (the fact that this came up in a 5 minute conversation is, as K says, very telling). I was sat beside Andrew Carter, radio DJ and last years winner of Scotsman of the year, who was welcome relief from the usual guest, and was there as he thought he should after winning last year. I say I was sat there, as the guy in charge of seating made it clear at the start of the evening I was to ensure this gentleman was made aware of how vibrant the Scottish community in Montreal is. Our group being the only one of the member groups who can number more than one member between the ages of 30 and 40 (beginning to see a pattern yet? ;p).

Also, the President of the Société St Jean-Baptiste (the Quebec National Society) was proudly relating to me how she was descended from the Plantagenets, and how she had ancestors on both sides of the War of the Roses. Genealogy was a big topic for the evening.

It seems I have now attended enough of this type of event, that my face is known to a few of the regulars, many of whom I can chat away with, so in the end I had a pleasant and entertaining evening, although whether I go next year remains to be seen!

Viva la Revolucion

Walking own from Mcgill Uinversity, just off campus, when I pass a Prayer Station.  Whatever, just passing through, till one of the older men at the station points at me, and with a laugh asks
"What's with the Communist hat?"
I was taken aback.  Too stunned to comment, but annoyed enough at his viewpoint not just to smile and nod in a placatory fashion.  As with all occasions like that, all the good ripostes came as I walked away.

Turning round the corner, I walk past a demonstration outside Indigo, calling for a boycott on the store by some pro-Palestinian group or other.  The man there holds out a flier.
"You have a progressive hat sir, have a progressive flier!"

I have a new hat.  You may have seen it in some of the pics from Cuba.  I like it, but I didn't think it was all that different.  In fact, back in the UK, I doubt it would have drawn any comment, certainly wouldn't have in Glasgow.  I thought Quebec was actually quite left wing, but left wing in a North American setting obviously means a different thing.



Original Post Here.