ROCKHAGGIS

My kayaking trip has so far been a success – with a few minor hiccups its going as planned. However I have to admit that for all the sense of achievement I find the stay at the base camps, this one in particular, very difficult! All around me I see couples, couples young and old, holding hands and walking in togetherness along the wind swept beach. I am so lonely. I chat to most that pass and have struck up a few friendships, but still I miss so deeply what I had. Just thinking about it brings a hurt to my heart and stinging water to my eyes. Ah well … lets hope I get over it , lets hope that things will get better.

I notice as I roam, an increasing number of fences and gates sporting signs such as 'Private', 'Private road No Entry' and 'Private Property – Keep Out' .

Traditionally fences and walls in the rural areas of the last colony were intended for livestock control. A secondary role was to mark property boundaries and only occasionally were fences and walls intended to restrict human movement.

Now it seems the new landlords, regardless of the laws of the land, are intent on establishing their foreign attitudes towards land and property ownership. As I paddled along the shore I saw numerous new developments, many still incomplete but every one having its fences up and extending not only to the shore but down the 'beach' and in some cases into the tide-less waters. Looking along the lengths of fence that extended over a substantial area of ground I rarely saw any access gates or stiles. Notices, lots of 'Private ' notices but no gates. Obviously the intention is to obstruct, or discourage free access along the shore.

I make a note of the registrations of the private vehicles parked next to the properties and check them via the internet...................... 90% plus are English. No surprise there!

I wonder if everyone who proclaims to be Scottish, did vote for the establishment of the independent nation state of Scotland, whether in-fact there would be enough to win. I suspect the seeding that has taken place at an alarmingly increasing pace over the last 20 years by our colonial masters, has indeed already swung the balance forever. Even if we want to create a nation state of Scotland, I fear we no longer have either the number of indigenous inhabitants nor the legal infrastructure so to do!

Scotland is a myth..... this area of The British Isles is no more than a county of England. Dominated and ruled by a foreign power. A colony.

• "It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom -- for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself." From the Declaration of Arbroath: 1320
• Normality: The normality is Independence. Most countries around the world are independent and most of them prefer it that way.
• The only normal and appropriate status for any nation is independence.

• Read more

I often wonder, often several times a day, why we as a people prefer to be without 'Nationhood'. Has our spirit been so undermined that none but a few can see the guiding light cast from the beacon of independence? I've never understood how a people with such a great & fearsome history cower at the prospect of self rule, a status that most self respecting peoples have aspired to! It disturbs me daily. Maybe this trip, the fresh highland air, the solitude, the space to think and talk with you, my blogger friends, will resolve some of that angst! Is it to late for the Last Colony, can it ever be recovered from the grips of globalisation and the Wall street agenda .... ?