27 days to go

This morning I was at South Lanarkshire College first thing to cut the first sod on the site of their new £2 million pound classroom block.

The sod was in fact already cut : all I had to do was lower into the hole that had been dug a time capsule that included newspapers , a copy of the Post 16 Education Act and a variety of other items.

The students in the College hospitality department had laid on a wonderful buffet breakfast and all those who attended the event had a great time despite the rain. Stewart McKillop , the Principal , was as ever an excellent host and runs an excellent college .

Linda Fabiani, the MSP for East Kilbride had originally approached me about visiting and she was there to make sure I did things the right way . I couldn't resist blipping her in the rain, with the time capsule, not least because I had myself been blipped just a moment before .

I then returned to the Parliament for FMQs , had a couple of meetings and came back across to the West to speak to the annual Education Scotland staff conference before , this evening and as my last event Ministerial before both Governments enter the restricted campaign period , setting out my "Vision for Scotland" for Reform Scotland in Glasgow University.

It was also a strangely moving day - the last Parliamentary day before we all go off to campaign in the referendum. In that sense burying a time capsule was an apposite task because I joined the SNP in the early summer of 1974 , so 40 years of my life have been spent working to achieve independence and now we are almost at the moment of choice.