Recently I have been posting a picture each day on Facebook thanks to a challenge more than a month ago now, by Fraser my brother in law. Today’s picture is one I took last June on a visit to Bannockburn, near Stirling, on my journey home from Brentford. I call it Contemplating the Bruce. Lily the dog, complete with tartan collar (!) looks at the statue of the victor of Bannockburn, slightly out of focus in the distance. Our perspective on past historical events is often far from clear, and seen through the lens of our own prejudices and our interpretation and reinterpretation of the past.
It was an early Saturday morning, the site was quiet, the sun was out and the buttercups were in full bloom – a perfect place for some photographs. The dogs loved it as they chased one another round the statue of King Robert the Bruce, my 19th great grandfather.
The words of Roy William’s song now adopted as an informal Scottish National Anthem come to mind.
O Flower of Scotland,
When will we see
Your like again,
That fought and died for,
Your wee bit Hill and Glen,
And stood against him,
Proud Edward’s Army,
And sent him homeward,
To think again.