Out on my travels on Wednesday, it struck me how bizarrely grandiose some of the slogans used by local authorities on signposts are becoming. Angus is the "birthplace of Scotland" (in what way?), while Perth and Kinross "welcomes the world". Dumfries and Galloway (from what I recall the last time I was there in August) is "First in Scotland" - although of course it could just as easily be last. Whereas North Lanarkshire takes a different tack with the internal contradiction of "take the lead, reduce your speed".
A more colloquial "hiya" would be quite refreshing one day, although I suppose nothing can be worse than Scotland's former branding as "the best small country in the world".
There was also a gorgeous large moon all the way home, which set me wondering (for some reason) whether a man had ever set foot on the moon within my lifetime. The answer, as I should have remembered, is no - the most recent was Eugene Cernan way back on December 11, 1972. And of course NASA couldn't return in the foreseeable future even if it wanted to, a reminder that technology can go backwards as well as forwards, and quite frequently does. We used to have commercial supersonic air travel. We even used to have teletext on ITV...
"Angus is the "birthplace of Scotland" (in what way?)"
ReplyDeleteIt was where the Declaration of Arbroath was signed.
Ah yes, that makes sense right enough. But it does rest on a very dubious definition of when Scotland was 'born'! A rebirth might be more accurate.
ReplyDeleteWitty post James. Dundee is the "City of Discovery", which of course is about the boat, and perhaps two universities, so I guess that makes some sort of sense.
ReplyDeleteIt's a wee bit disconcerting that everything has to have a logo and a mission statement though. I spent days thinking about one for the company I work for (having been told by the MD to come up with something snappy), instead of getting on with work which might have done some good to someone!