Scottish Roundup

Hey everyone It’s round up time again so lets see what’s been getting you talking in a week with plenty of talking points.

I’ll start this week with a wee bit of humour. God knows it seems to be in short supply at the moment. Though sometimes you find it like a jewel in the dust and Ellen at In a bun dance made me laugh with her hilarious post on 20 things I want my sons to know. I hope her sons are listening when she has this chat with them as her tips are excellent as she translates man speak in to common sense. We girls know this is never an easy task

Staying on the theme of parenting Richy Black, The only boy in the house warms the heart with a brilliant post on the joys of having two young daughters and how this can sometimes upset his morning routine. Not that I suspect he minds too much even when he is being told off by his 4 year old.

Raymond Weir is as we know a very sporting chap. This week he has FIFA in his sights over their decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar without thinking of the consequences. He points out that the weather can be a wee bit on the hot side over there especially during the summer months when the tournament is traditionally held. I mean in the unlikely event that we (Scotland) actually qualify the Tartan Army will need factor trillion sun screen.

Now on to political matters and in particular the thorny issue of the independence referendum. Neil Scott at Plot’s Plot says that when it comes to the crowd who attended the march there are lies damned lies and pro unionist statistics which are being peddled by our friends in the press and media. Do you think he might believe they are making things up?

The Burd is puzzled by Scottish Labour’s opposition to Independence and has her own ideas as to why Labour wants us to vote no. If she is right and I stress the word if, then they believe the referendum is not about Scotland but about their electoral interests.

Last word on politics for this week goes to Muteswann who reminds us that the conference season is in full swing and has some pretty powerful opinions on the usefulness or lack of it of party conferences. Indeed she goes as far as to question their importance to members of parties and public alike.

Meanwhile Audrey Birt reminds us to be kind to each other as everyone is fighting battles we know nothing about. This is something I have very personal experience of and many people in to use a phrase I now expect to be used by all political leaders, my online communities of interest have been very supportive of me in all I try to do. This is an excellent and very heart warming read.

Talking of reading, I once wrote a poem called Fashion Fanatic which I really should post on my blog. This week our resident fashion fanatic, the ever reliable style queen who is Lauren at Living in a Boxx tells us she attended the French Connection sketch to store event recently. This was a unique event where everyone was given the chance to create an outfit with the winner getting money to spend in the store. Lauren says she has always been a fan of the brand even though she admits that it is a bit out of her normal price range.

Meanwhile, Nurse with (Knitting) Needles has written a post about not blogging and says she thinks she’s lost her voice. I have to disagree I think she may have rediscovered it. Well by my way of thinking, if she can create a post by writing about nothing then she really does have more of a magic touch than she thinks.

As the last post demonstrates writing a blog from nothing requires imagination. It is in many ways the same as writing a poem and this week’s cultural contribution comes from a very well respected east of Scotland poet as Colin Will at Sunny Dunny’s blog. Colin shows the majestic power of nature in his excellent lyrical poem West Barns Renga Tomorrow’s Rainbows. Perhaps it was no accident that this was posted on the day of the march and rally for independence. I say this, as I believe both sides have a duty to talk about their own rainbow coalitions and the visions they offer our people rather than threatening the end of the world and gathering storms if the voters don’t do as they tell them.

So as you can see its been an interesting week with the personal showing it can be political and the political demonstrating it can often be the result of very personal circumstances. However as we shape up for what will be a very interesting year it would be wise to remember to be kind to each other whatever decision we make and make it our personal crusade to search for tomorrow’s rainbows.