Local Tourist

To Elderslie on an errand today. I have lived in this area for 21 years and passed the Wallace Monument more times than I can count - but today I stopped for the first time. It was a dispiriting experience. There is a 300 year old yew tree which is protected by a fierce fence while it is being nursed back to life. If I ever get as decrepit as that yew tree I hope someone chops me down for firewood. I couldn't see the point of the exercise- if the tree is 300 years old, then it sprung to life about 300 years after Wallace died and there are lots more photogenic trees around not getting the same cosseting (or needing it either). The monument itself is nothing remarkable and the somewhat gory scenes surrounding it do nothing to make story of Wallace seem particularly noble.

The case for Wallace's birthplace being Elderslie is hotly disputed, but you get no sense of that in the descriptions. Worst of all, all the modern plaques which seek to explain the site to visitors have a platitude that reads something like this, 'This is a very special site for Scottish people, please respect it.' It started me wondering which sites, if any, I would identify as special to Scottish people. It is all part of the general sense of unease I have as the referendum debate gets underway. I am a Scot, and would always identify myself as such before mentioning that I am a UK citizen. I love this country. However, I have never been in favour of independence until recently, when it seemed the only situation in which we might be able to rid ourselves of WMD and have more equable fiscal policies. But I confess the narrow nationalism and triumphalism of some in the nationalist camp disturb me.

I wonder where the real debate is - about what our nation should mean, what our values should be. I fear that the more we focus on the gory history of the 13th century, the more we risk being a nation of intolerant bigots.

Or maybe I was just a bit tired this afternoon? Anyway, I rejected all the shots of the monument and the yew tree in favour of this crow, who before he left the scene, left a glistening dropping on poor auld Willie's heid