Flags represent such a lot.

I saw this as I looked across the city from the top of Waverley railway station in Edinburgh. It reminded me how surprised I had been when I saw the latest add by Fiat which uses the Union Flag but with the blue substituted by green with a tag line that says the best of Britain mixed with the best of Italy.

I had been really surprised that this didn't seem to have caused outrage amongst the Scottish as the bit they removed and replaced with the italian colour had been the Scottish part of the union flag.

Whilst I appreciate that this is just a bad marketing campaign, I am still surprised that a global company thinks it is OK to mess with a flag that represents the United Kingdom.

I feel confident that if we had messed with anyone elses flag and used it for marketing in their country, we would have come in for not a little flak.

Don't know if any of you guys have seen the add campaign I am talking about but it was on a billboard in Edinburgh. I was expecting to hear of the outrage but haven't heard a thing.

Having travelled by boat I now appreciate the feeling of seeing a flag flying on a vessel from your home and know how comforting it can be to be able to approach the other vessel at least knowing that you can easily communicate and start with something in common. I try not to let this stop me from making friends with foreign travellers but when you have been away for a while you are still drawn to easy conversation and common ground.

Hope you had a memorable weekend.

K