The Scottish Parliament: New graffiti

"A new quotation is to be added to the Canongate Wall at Holyrood to mark a decade of devolution. Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson MSP today launched the hunt to find a new addition to the 24 quotes already in place on the Wall.

Announcing the start of the search, Mr Fergusson said: “The Canongate Wall was always supposed to be a living wall – one that we would add to when the time was right. We believe that as we approach our tenth anniversary, that time is now.

"We are asking people to nominate a well-loved or significant piece of writing that is relevant for Scotland, perhaps something that expresses how they feel about Scotland, what it means to be Scottish, or hopes for the future.”


I'm reading Don Paterson's The Blind Eye just now and I think,

"Fate's book, but my italics"

would work very well. The nationalists could even recast this to read, "Westminster's book, our italics".

Or perhaps:

"I've always wanted to serve, and now that Woolies is no longer an option..."

which is my own, but I think it has a certain ring to it.

Paterson has another lovely one though, that the panel might even consider -

"Whale to the ocean, bird to the sky, man to his dreams"

- just so long as we're not planning any cultural exchanges with the Norwegian or Japanese Parliaments that is.

I also have a wee soft spot for something profound that Oor Wullie said years ago in the last frame of one of his strips -

"Where there's a Wullie there's a way!"

It's something my dog swore by, until his operation.