Flags

My morning beach was prematurely ended by the police at the point where the beach enters the embassy district in Muscat. Their machine gun was on show so I guessed they were serious.

For some reason, it got me thinking about flags - omani flags are all over the place at this time of national celebration of the formation of the country. I think there may be more flags than people at the moment.

They were also pretty prominent in Turkey. Even anti-government protestors were using their national flag, albeit with a stencil of Ataturk on it. Part of the protest was their feeling that the values Ataturk embodied in the formation of the state were being undermined by the current government.

There were many thousands of red and gold flags being waved when we were in Barcelona as people there protested for a referendum on independance.

And then there was the Scottish saltire prominent in our own referendum.

Important things, flags.