The Kingdom is still United......

Well, the Kingdom is still united. And the world is still on its axis. But 45% of the people of Scotland voted to sever ties. Just 400 000 difference between the votes. That is nothing.

However, the greatest success of the referendum was the way the electorate was engaged. More than ever before in British Electoral history, the people were active, had an opinion, and got up and voted. In some areas, the turnout was over 90% and the Universal Suffrage records of 1918 have been broken.

This marks a weather change in British politics. Or rather, I hope it does. Apathy is deadly. One cannot expect change if the electorate is apathetic, and the Scots were anything but. The Westminster crowd were horribly shaken, as well they should have been.  Martin Lewis, a well known financial commentator, remarked this morning that the federation cannot be far away. And he suggested that  The United States of the Kingdom could be coming. Instead of The United Kingdom.

Hilarious. 

I just hope the tremors which ran through the country continue and that DevoMax happens soon, that The Vow is honoured and that they apply all of these fancy things to the rest of the country too. As in Us.

Otherwise I will have to migrate North.

I happened to be awake at 3AM (please note) when the results started rolling in, and I was lying there in bed quite happily until 5am watching it all, when the peace was shattered by our fire alarm going off in emergency mode outside my bedroom door. I hurtled out of bed to look for the fire, because we all know that fire alarms and evacuation plans start with "run around the house looking for flames". Epic fail on all the fire drill practices. David never emerged from his room (he said he could hear that we were alive) while Diana searched the downstairs for flames too, after leaving the deck at tremendous speed.

We couldn't find any flames, so went back to bed.

And not 10 minutes ago, Diana suggested we check what the 3 long beeps repeating meant, so I googled it and it said Real Alarm.

Right.

Fortunately, not 2 doors down the road, we have a fireman in residence. This is very useful. I popped out and asked him what the problem could be, as the fire brigade had fitted the alarms here last year, and he brought a replacement round and fitted it for us. He did sort of roll the eyes when I mentioned that no-one had attempted to vacate the building. Oh well. He lives close enough for me to screech for out the window.

So, apart from momentous political shenanigans and screeching alarms, what else do I have to report from Middle England......... Diana has finished painting the kitchen. This has been a herculean task, as the roof is high and there are rafters etc. She has done a wonderful job and once all the furniture is repositioned and the contents of the house are reassessed and rearranged (please note all the "re"s), we should be entering a slightly quieter time. That would be for about a week or so before she has her op next month and crutches become the mode of transport here again. There is also the oven I need to sort. I will. Soon. And the tiles. The step. The......

I love my carpets. 

I cannot tell you how warm and big and lovely the room looks now.

For the first time in my life, we are removing shoes at the door. I cannot believe I said that. It is not a South African thing at all. In fact, it would be regarded as very bad manners to remove shoes. And very bad hosting to expect it. But I have joined the ranks. It may just be for a short while, but still.....

Carpets are just things. I know. But I can see the beautiful and enjoy it too. 

Happy weekend to you all!