Back garden show.

It may seem strange that I'm going to dedicate a photograph of something very Scottish to a post-Iran reflection write-up. But this is the first time I've been able to voice a couple of opinions that I couldn't back in ye old Islamic State.

Even looking in from the outside, it's clear that Iran is a polarised country; on the one side you have the government and the religious authorities and other you have the people. Obviously, the latter is not always at odds with the former, many poor and religious communities are bastions of support, propping up the theocratic dictatorship.

But, I was honestly bewildered by just how many people were eager to voice their displeasure to me. Every other old man and his dog cat had a picture of the Shah on his phone. The young and the liberal thirsted for democracy and freedom. In fact almost everybody I spoke to asked about job opportunities in Britain.

I realised, too, that the natural and famed friendliness of the Persian people is exacerbated by the isolation imposed upon them from above. Young men have to do two years of military service before they can apply for a passport. Even then, you can pretty much forget about getting a working visa to the U.K unless you're a brain surgeon with loads of money and state secrets.

But what irked me, and this is something I've hinted at previously, is how the pure diversity of Iranian society is over-shadowed by this overly boisterous and vocal government. And yes, Rouhani does seem to be making liberal steps forward but I would't hold your breath, his hands are completely tied by Khameini and his hardline cronies.

The biggest revolt in years- the Green Movement- was crushed with such a brutality that nowadays people find alternative and much more secretive ways to rebel. I met people who were involved in the revolt, and who saw loved ones shot on the streets. And now, in the knowledge that the police are aware of them, they have to carve out a sort of life within the rigidity of the system provided.

And yet people do. There are parties, with drink, drugs, sex. There's a sizeable gay scene. People push at the boundaries, and many burst free.

Persian society is so vibrant, historic and diverse that you can imagine as a peacock's feathers. From the outside, the colours and patterns are hard to decipher through the chador thrown across it by the government. Once you're in the country, the further away from the chador you forage, i.e the more you hang around in the Tehran cafes, the secret parties, or the outspoken guy in the tearoom, the more colourful the culture appears.

These colours will not be able to dazzle the world until the chador is shirked off. And although revolt and the knowledge that it doesn't have to be like this lays at the front of many people's mind another revolution probably won't happen for another decade. Until then, Iran, from the outside remains a peacock painted black.