Porty People and Places

I always look out to sea first thing every morning. Today I saw a familiar vintage Cruise Liner on the horizon belching black exhaust fumes replicating the smudge of smoke from the funnels of the marine traffic that used to make the Forth Estuary a very busy waterway. The vessel was m/v Discovery inbound Leith from Isaf Jordur in Iceland. This was the same vessel we cruised on through the Eastern Mediterranean last autumn. The Ship's Company looked after us really well. Many of them were from Ukraine. (Their home port, unthinkable then. has since been annexed by the Russian Federation.)

I walked down to the beach before breakfast to get this blip. The surf is caused by the bow wave of the m/v Discovery as she slowed down to pick up the Forth Pilot and be nudged into her berth beside The Royal Yacht. The last time Tiggy and I saw this vessel was when we ended our cruise in Athens. Strange sensation to have our holiday accommodation pass our permanent accommodation in Edinburgh.

58 days to go to Independence Referendum. The BBC phoned me to join Nicky Campbell's FiveLive phone in about the IndyRef when I got back from the beach. They kept me waiting on the live loop to the studio for ten minutes on my mobile and then they ran out of time. I was on their call list because of Taking Part in this Debate in September . We all need to engage and debate before it is too late!