So this, all too predictably, is the underwritten, rushed-out, disappointing, cashing in sequel.
This is my personal experience of the last few days of the Scottish Referendum and immediate aftermath.
When we exhaled it was not in orgasmic stutter, but a steady sigh.
Scotland decided at 6:08am on 19th September to remain within the United Kingdom.
85% of residents in Scotland went to the polling booths in church halls, school houses and local government stations. 55% put an X the NO box, 45% put an X in the YES box.
It was over before it really started. I went to bed at 11pm on the 18th and when I switched the TV on at 5:15am YES had conceded. This concession was made official just after 6am.
Both leaderships called for Scotland to heal, move on and work for a better future.
So here is my story of my hours before and after this in the centre of Edinburgh's Old Town.
Before
I took this photo:
I like this photo very much. I took it quickly. To me it feels rich in symbolism of the ordinary campaigners and of the larger significance depicted in microcosm.
A foreign camera points point-blank range at a YES supporter who has set up his campaign close to the Edinburgh Fringe HQ. He is a one man-band, only a simple YES sticker and his own, childlike protest song: "We are throwing out the Bankers! We are throwing out Westminster!" marking his chosen view. A "YES" is scrawled in chalk above Tragedy. In the background, just in view, is a Union flag hung at the statue of Adam Smith, the father and architect of western capitalism. In front of it is a man, standing stalk still, hands in pockets, staring into the middle-distance. He is wearing an England rugby shirt. Scrawled on it in black marker: "Scotland, please stay with us!"
Here was a symbol of the way debating and making a political point had advanced on the side of YES. It was ever so slightly more sophisticated, more progressive. Less, even, nationalistic.
This was Scotland's Summer of Love! A flower of Scotland in the barrel of the guns of Brixton.
But, just as the photo only captures the moment but cannot bottle it, the hours passed and tension cranked into the great gears of democracy another notch or two.
The final hours of campaigning intensified. Things became frayed as the time for making the killer argument drained from the hourglass and the polls continued to suggest it was anyone's to win.
YES 46% NO 54%
YES 49% NO 51%
YES 50% NO 50%
Which, because America hates draws and small numbers, and mathematics, equates in American numeracy to:
It was now officially too close for the polls to give any indication. Those eligible to
vote who had not stuck their poster (literally) to the window now became the kingmakers. The undecided (some 400,000) needed to be persuaded one way or another. And fast. And shouting was the quickest way.
The supporters of both sides, too, increased their demonstrations to the point of fanaticism.
Facebook and Twitter became chocked with statuses of increasing desperation to convince friends and followers to vote one way or another and yet more facts and counter-figures and propaganda and emotional hijacking.
Every vote counts the same: 1. But some of my friends, I started to believe, by sheer force of hammering home their vote they somehow thought it would count more.
The best comment I read:
"If you vote NO, then you should never vote again. I won't put up with your complaints on here"
I am only friends with them for their ability to resolve my political complaints as well. Hmmm.
There were others:
"A vote for NO is a vote you want food banks!"
"YES voters are not taking brave a leap of faith, they are fools jumping down the abyss!"
"It is not about if you'll be richer or poorer - it is about more!"
Thankfully, for me, although Facebook was lost, I found solace in Twitter which remained brilliantly eccentric, surreal and calm on my timeline. I guess it's true how the new old saying goes: You can't choose your Facebook friends but you can choose who you follow on Twitter.
18th September
It was odd out there. Cameras pointed at doors. No one was coming out. The sky was nothing. Words were held on tips of tongues. It was odd out there. Like the world had become loose at the hinges.
The international narrative had been written. A union - perhaps the union in the world - could be about to dissolve. 300 years of interwoven history might just have a full stop placed at the end. Japanese news crews ran down the Royal Mile after a personal opinion of someone grasping a polling card. Cameras and reporters pointed at buildings and entrances from all angles. Coffee shops were doing roaring trade off journalists who were reading broadsheets, ipads and their blackberries trying to get a handle of feeling or scoop.
Perhaps the nation got shy. The mist descended and gloom of Edinburgh came to the rescue of the lady - shrouding her face and covering her ankles. The town was a quiet voice behind a scented handkerchief.
I walked past the Scottish Parliament building.
Up until now the debate had been modern. It avoided dredging up cliché and stereotype. And Scotland is rich in national stereotype! Forget Oil - Scotland's national resource is tartan shortbread tins. Scotland was presenting a modern view. Up until now.
It was outside the Scottish Parliament on 18th September I heard the first yell of "FREEDOM!"
It might as well have been a warning as much as a declaration.
I voted mid-evening.
As I entered my local station, a girl: porcelain skin, blonde hair and white teeth walked by in her school uniform - several YES badges pinned down her school tie - walked out the other way. I heard both representatives of the respective campaigns politely thanking her for voting.
19th September
The outcome was more pronounced than the polls had predicted. The narrative had not delivered the twist ending. Culturally and historically the by far most likely result predicted since this long discussion began had come to pass.
The evening went with little excitement. Someone suggested this was a positive. A sign of a mature and sensible nation. I tend to agree.
1.6 million, 45% of votes (or 38% of the entire population) had not got their way. 2 million, 55% (or 46%) had got theirs. We had done pretty well in keeping things civil until now, could Scotland pass the final test? Could we keep growing and showing the world how Scotland is progressive? Could we calmly accept the result?
I left for the laboratory and, where the day before was full of calm introspection, the atmosphere was now of base instinct: Fight or flight. It was a new odd. No one wanted caught in another's eye.
I watched out of the window on the bus as a man appeared round the corner on the street. He was like an mutated soldier who was still fighting a long since decided atomic war. A stained saltire kilt, the royal standard draped round his bare shoulders: his grey stubble at odds with a wild 'See-you-Jimmy' hat popped on his head. He was either tired, drunk or pumping Scottish own brand brown 'Schmack' through his veins. He was grabbing women on the street as he staggered, wide eyed and mouthed: "YASS!" He did a Highland jig. ""FREEDOM!" "YASS" he shrieked. He grabbed a man in a suit: He's to blame.
The fall-out from the blast had began to drift. It was not the truth bomb that was going to kill us, it was the toxic air.
The Summer of Love was over.
Now, in the aftermath
The YES supporters describe the loss as grief. Their country has died. They've set up a vigil outside the Scottish Parliament replete with candles.
YES asked for a leap of faith. They just hadn't reduced the chasm to make it possible.
Better Together didn't offer independence. They offered just attractive enough of a better way of trying to do things within the system already in place and established and integrated.
The social media status rhetoric has not abated, just changed.
People who kept from entering the debate before now are posting sub-statuses. I am seeing reactions posted clearly in response to what are experiencing on their timelines. It is weird.
I've enjoyed photos of cats and now suddenly:
"The vote was really close! 45% is huge! Let me be upset in peace!"
"I hate Scotland right now!"
"55% disagree with you, you lost, now have dignity!"
"I am deleting so-called friends on here!"
The regular YES campaigners are now spending their time calling NO voters "weak", "cowards", "enslaved" and worse. They are saying they are "ashamed", "embarrassed", "disgusted" and "sickened". Someone I know talks now of "having no country" and hating half of the population but pleased that in their own polling station "my people voted YES".
Those who had YES badges now sport '45' exclusive membership badges. Many of supporters are joining social groups such as 'The 45 Rebellion'. There is talk of being cheated out of the result by vote rigging. There is talk of boycotting the BBC TV licence fee, continuing the movement and never ceasing until Scottish Independence is achieved.
The blank canvas of iScotland can be anything to anyone, and this remains a powerful motivator. But ultimately the movement lost. The say of this political vision is limited for the time being. Realising the plans for this particular attempt for independence, are not coming to fruition will need to be accepted.
If the loss of YES can be viewed as undignified, the win by NO is ungracious.
The celebrations and the humorously un-ironic shouting of "Yes!" when the results continued to go their way is forgivable. Either side would have celebrated.
The regular Better Together activists are posting statuses of victory and wanting to draw a smug thick line under the vote. For a long, long time. They are dismissing dissent as sour grapes and accusing YES supporters of being delusional and paranoid.
Last night Glasgow (a YES voter) was plunged into the darker ages with violent clashes between those claiming to represent the both sides. Someone states Better Together has ignited a Scot's version of The Troubles.
The rhetoric is strong on both sides.
Scotland is on a flint edge in tinder at the moment. Healing is going to take a while. But heal it must.
To be honest, I felt a weight was removed on the 19th. The increasing pressure was now released. There would be no return, no re-vote. Whatever the vote, it was a once in a generation - a lifetime - event. I heard both camps say so. We must move respectfully onward from whatever path the democratic decision will put Scotland on, and get on. I heard everyone say so.
My only hope was that this referendum would engage people politically and we would end up with a better relationship with politics. I think it did this.
We are part of something amazing. We need to keep the engagement. We need to make our voice heard and the politicians will have to listen. This is what this referendum ended up being about for me. Scotland has shown the way. We've a long way to go, but this is something to be proud of.
Yesterday there was more analysis and shocks.
Demographics showed the younger Scottish electorate had largely voted YES and the older electorate largely NO. YES pointed to the younger voters "getting it more" and Better Together to the older voters "understanding it more". The old debate strategies were dying hard.
Alex Salmond, the leader of the YES campaign and First Minister of Scotland talked about the future and seeing how far the campaign had taken Scotland towards independence. Then he walked off stage and walked away from his position as First Minister.
Claims started being made about the Better Together parities reneging on their timetable of promises as party lines were redrawn again. There was anger and confusion as the added powers for Scotland promised then became part of a proposed UK devolution package. This will almost certainly take years to agree.
Less than 24 hours after the last votes were being cast, a member of YES leadership spoke on a Scottish news programme. A new leader of SNP was coming. After the Scottish election in 2016 the new party leader could be the new First Minister. 45% will still want independence, quite probably more. This is a massive chunk of the will of the People of Scotland. This will likely set up a mandate for another independence referendum in Scotland.
The Better Together spokesperson replied: "We would obviously take a stance against the YES campaign again".
If I had a revolver in my hand, I'd have shot my fucking TV.
Thanks for reading / listening to the soundtrack!
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