What a summer it has been in Scotland - like no other that I can remember over the last 20 years. It started with the Commonwealth Games in July. It will end with the Scottish Independence Referendum in September.
And when it's all over, we'll look back and realise that we've seen and witnessed things that have never happened before in Scotland, and might never happen again.
So we set out from Glasgow last Monday - that's me and 5 live producer Helen Thomas - with the idea of capturing as many of the sights and sounds of this unique Scottish summer as we could. We wanted to talk to as many people as possible to find out what it all means to them.
There aren't many places in the world where I'd rather eat a tea cake than the Ritz Cafe on the island of Cumbrae. I don't know if the Formica table tops, jukebox and faded beach postcards actually date from the fifties, but it certainly looks like it.
A father doing the ten mile bike circuit round the island told us he'd be voting yes in the referendum. He said Scotland was a wealthy nation full of great natural resources and it made sense to break away. His daughter didn't know what she thought. But then, she was only five. People in Millport told me their views on the vote:
Next day we were watching young sailors being lashed by wind and rain as they shoved their small racing boats into the Firth of Clyde. An elderly spectator told us his wife had organised a party if the referendum went the way they wanted. If it didn't, they would just get sloshed - his words, not mine. People at the event gave their views on the Referendum:
By this point our trip was gathering pace. We'd barely finished our broadcasting from the Laser National Championships before we were haring up the coast for the ferry to Bute.
And what a stunning island it is. The villas around Rothesay Bay make it look like a Mediterranean resort. Ok some have lost their Victorian splendour and there are bushes growing out of one crumbling church on the seafront, but it's still a beautiful place.
In the pubs of Rothesay that night we found regulars who were keen to tell us exactly what they thought about the referendum and were outraged when we said we weren't allowed to answer their questions about what we thought.
At the Bute farming show the next day, we started to get the impression that the debate on the island was quite lively. An elderly English lady told us a yes voter had threatened to push her car into the sea, but that they had eventually hugged and made up. The highland cows looked on placidly from their pens, munching hay and waiting to be judged. Farmers gave their differing views on Referendum.
There was more hard driving on Wednesday night, heading north east towards Aberdeenshire. Finally we arrived in Ballater for the town's Highland games the next day.
It was an intensely colourful experience: marching bands, field events like tossing the caber and a surprise visit by Charles and Camilla. The whole event was more distinctively Scottish than anything I've seen before. That made some people we spoke to yearn for Scotland to be independent. It seemed to make others want to hold onto the nation they know and love inside the Union. People gave their views on the vote:
Today in Edinburgh, the last day of our trip, we'll talk to writers, historians and political analysts about what it all means. And we'll be getting just a small sample of the talent gathered in the city for its annual book festival.
It's been an intense week. There's been lots of travelling and we've listened to many people talking about Scotland's future. For me, the energy and excitement we've witnessed suggest that whatever the outcome of the referendum, this time will be seen as a high point in the life of the nation.
Not a winter of discontent, but Scotland's glorious summer.
More on the Scottish Independence Referendum from 5 live
