Today is St Andrew’s Day, the national day of Scotland.
So, since Andrew the Apostle, also known as the First-called, includes among his patronage, fishermen and rope-makers, it seems reasonable to mark the day here on the blog by posting a selection of images of ropes, fish, fishing boats, and fishermen.
As well, of course, as thistles, which are the national flower of Scotland.
I do have plenty of photos of thistles and thistle-like flowers, but none of them were taken in Scotland. A number, including the next one, are from Spain.
There are even some from Wales.
There are Spanish fishing boats, too. From the north…
…and from the south:
And one, somewhere in the heart of England, a very long way from water.
I think this giant thistle might also be from Spain but I’m not 100% sure. Wherever it was, it had a rather nasty case of black fly.
The rope at the top of the post was in England, along by the canal in Gloucester, but I think this one was on a boat in Spain.
And this fisherman cleaning a gutted baby shark was definitely on the Iberian coast – I think Galicia’s la costa de la muerte.
I don’t know what this fisherman caught in the Mediterranean, but even if he caught nothing, it was a pretty sunrise.
And this fish, seems to have died a natural, if unpleasant, death on the shores of a Spanish reservoir.
And finally, to round off, some more thistles.
don't confuse the narrator 