East Kilbride, Scotland: There was heartbreak on the telly. A last-minute twist. Dreams shattered. Hopes lost. A collective groan.
Bayern Munich can do that in time added on, score a goal out of nowhere, just when it appeared to be a well-deserved draw for Manchester City.
There can be no draw after yesterday’s referendum, just winners and losers.
“Well, that’s that,” Robbie East said as he turned away from the telly. “Back to more serious matters.”
Scotland’s future. And how will it turn out.
It has been the only discussion of note for weeks.
“I know families that are not talking because of it,” East says. “The Da [father] is voting ‘no’ and all the rest are ‘yes’. There’s huge convulsion about it all. This is going to take years to heal. I do nae think they’ll ever get over it.”
And yesterday it was time.
“Glasgow has always been a very segregated city,” Des Ennis says.
“It’s the whole Catholic and Protestant thing, Celtic and Rangers,” says. “What foot you kick with. The referendum has highlighted a lot of that for a lot of people. And whatever happens, people have to hang their colours to the flag. Are they loyal to Scotland? Or are they loyal to England? And a lot of people are very uncomfortable about having to make that choice. And what ever way it goes, they’re going to have to put up or shut up once and for all.”
Yesterday, 4,285,383 Scots had registered to pin their colours on their flags.
“When we were growing up, every one knew their place,” Ennis says. “You knew who was what on the street, what team they followed, what they did on March 17 or July 12. Where they went.”
March 17 means St. Patrick’s Day, Catholic, a Celtic supporter and from an Irish background. July 12 means Orange Day, protestant, a Rangers supporter and from a loyalist background.
“Some of that has changed in Glasgow and the one’s who are changing it are young people,” Ennis continues. “We just accepted our father’s views, never questioned. Now young people can get the answers for themselves, see arguments, make up their own mind. I think this referendum has been very good for that. Social media has helped. They just look up the answers for themselves.”
Past, present and the future all coming together in a single day with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question?
“Exactly,” he says.
First Minister Alex Salmond visited the town briefly on Wednesday, and Willie McGran got to see him.
“I nearly got a selfie but there was a lot of people around Wee Eck,” he says.
For McGran, the National Health Service is the only reason why he was going to cast a ballot for ‘yes’ on Thursday. His son, Jordan, was born with a critical heart and long condition that has required five major surgeries so far in as many young years.
“I don’t think the Tories can be trusted with the NHS. I think there’s a mean spirit with Tories. They want people to be able to look after themselves. They want people to have private insurance. My wife and I can’t afford that.”
His wife, who works in the NHS as a medical secretary, makes more money than him, a joiner by trade. The choice was simple: He gave up his job to take on the full-time caring role for Jordan, who breathes through a ventilator.
“I think that Scotland is a more caring place and I think we look after one another here,” he says. “That’s why I’m voting ‘yes’.”
What the referendum campaign has done is make Scots reflect deep into themselves, ask tough questions, make choices for the past, the present and the future.
“Aye,” McGran agrees. “It feels very powerful to be able to do that.”
Yesterday, the polling station at Ecclefechan community centre in Dumfries and Galloway was doing brisk business from the off.
The first voter, a man in his 60s, looked ecstatic, refusing to give his name but saying simply: “This is history in the making — I’ll no’ see the benefit of it, mind.”
Factory worker Scott Stewart, 24, followed. On his way in, he said he was a ‘yes’: “I think we will be better off on our own.”
But for those who are hoping that apathy has died in Scotland with the referendum, Stewart added: “This is the first time I’ve ever voted and it will be the last. I don’t understand politics.”
An English couple in their 50s arrived excitedly just after 7am. They refused to be named or photographed by The Guardian: “Because we’re voting ‘yes’ and all of our family think we are a ‘no’.”
A man in a van said he was “nervous if it goes the wrong way. My wife says she’s back off down to England if it’s a ‘no’.” He paused. “I’m no’ sure if that’s a good or a bad thing ... But I’ll miss her.”
And the rest of the United Kingdom would miss Scotland.
But that’s just the way it is.
