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Bit of a long thread in response to @KirstySNP trying to silence @holyroodmandy last night. apologies for any errors in spelling or grammar.
October 1967:
A bleak and windy Saturday morning my dad (Bill Halliday) who was deputy chief of the Scottish Civil Defence had taken a rare weekend off, I was 8yrs old and could sense something exciting was in the air,
A bleak and windy Saturday morning my dad (Bill Halliday) who was deputy chief of the Scottish Civil Defence had taken a rare weekend off, I was 8yrs old and could sense something exciting was in the air,
Dad wrapped me up winter coat balaclava (yes they did exist) and my prized Claret and Amber Motherwell scarf. He took me by the hand and we were off, with a skip in my step I thought we were going to Fir Park,
, if we went we would always go in the car, but today we walked past and headed to the bus stop at the end of the street. The first two busses passed and I had to ask “what bus are we waiting on dad”, too which he replied “the bus to independence”
I had no idea where Independence was but was quite excited to be going somewhere new. Eventually a bus arrived and we got on, sometime later we arrived in a town I had never been in and assumed that we had arrived at Independence.
A short walk ensued and we met up with a small group of others who seemed delighted we had joined them. This where dad explained we were going to be playing a game of chap door run, but first we had to post a leaflet through the door,
, unquestioningly I took possession of a handful of leaflets, a nice lady came and clipped a small badge on my coat patted me on the head and with a look sincerity on her face said “we are doing this for you youngster”
we all got busy posting the leaflets to house in a street that to me seemed never ending. The leaflets had a picture of a very nice looking lady who reminded me of my mum.
A few weeks later I can remember the yells of delight from mum and dad, Winnie Ewing had won Hamilton for the SNP.
It would be many years before I realised how defining that moment was and realised just how long a journey it was going to take for that bus to Independence to reach its destination.
October 2020:
I sit at the kitchen table feeling blessed that my dad thought to take me on that bus to Independence and to have given me the memory of having done a wee bit to help propel that bus along the road to the bus station,
I sit at the kitchen table feeling blessed that my dad thought to take me on that bus to Independence and to have given me the memory of having done a wee bit to help propel that bus along the road to the bus station,
, because the fuel the independence bus runs on is the passengers it carries, it has coughed and spluttered, its even overheated on occasions, but it has never been starved of fuel, it never will be.
lots of people have got on, few have gotten off willingly, many have sadly passed, my mother, my father and brother among them, so they will never see the bus arrive at the bus station in Independence
December 2020:
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
I am still on the bus and the driver has assured me we will be arriving in independence shortly, You can just see it lit up in the distance at the far end of Union Street,
most of the passengers are getting excited at the prospect, there is a small group of noisy youngsters who got on a few stops back, they were quite upbeat and were even helping out other passengers, they were a bit colourful and loud but seemed to be having fun,
but something seemed to have changed as soon as we were able to spot the bus station.
The small group started demanding that the bus needs to make a major detour to the village of Woke, it was a place that was never on the timetable, some of them are even saying that if the bus won’t go to Woke then they will make all the passengers get off the bus,
they are even saying they will puncture the tyres unless everybody agrees to the detour, a couple of the loud group are even threatening violence to other passengers and trying to silence us.
I have tried to explain to them that it’s only a few minutes to independence and a bus to Woke is sitting waiting for them,
it’s a pity they won’t listen because there is a real threat that this bus won’t be able to reach Independence with them onboard, and the passengers who have been onboard for half a decade who welcomed them
may be faced with having to throw them off the bus to ensure it continues on its present route.
I feel saddened that this small group can’t accept that a bus to their destination is waiting at the platform in Independence, we now have to decide on what action we are going to take to ensure that the No1 continues down Union Street to its destination.
The Independence bus station is likely to be a calamitous place, it will be full of people who have a wish to head off on a route that tweaks their own personal interests and passions, but there is a plethora of busses available to all, and the roads in Scotland are many.
