Today in 1988, the community of Embo, in the Scottish Highlands, declared itself independent from the rest of the UK… but just for one day.
This was not part of the push that year in Scotland to vote on whether to be fully independent; this was for a very different reason.
It was about Embo’s primary school, or, technically, its old primary school.
By the 1980s the small community’s students were going to classes in a nearby town.
But Embo was leasing the school building, and they wanted to turn it into a community center.
That took money, so they dreamed up the idea of becoming an independent nation for a day to raise money for this community center project.
They came up with their own currency, called the Cuddie.
Two Cuddies were worth a British pound, and you could exchange them at the pub for some of Embo’s commemorative independence whiskey.
The pub was also one of the parliament buildings.
Non-citizens could not visit and even get “diplomatic immunity” with a donation to the fundraiser.
A couple people in town were visiting from Hawaii, so they became unofficial “ambassadors” and established a “twin city” relationship between their town and Embo.
And when visitors were ready to head home, Embo had someone on hand dressed up as then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to collect a tax as they returned to the UK.
That’s what Embo did the next day, and they did eventually get the school up and running as a community center.
Though from the looks of it, they’ve had to do several rounds of renovations and they’ve had to raise money more than a few times.
But for those fundraisers, they stayed in the UK.
Today in 2022, a strange moment in the world of real estate.
A real estate agent in British Columbia was getting ready for a showing when he got thirsty.
He couldn’t find any water in the refrigerator, so he drank straight out of the milk jug, without telling anyone.
The sellers did not love this when they saw it on their security cameras.
They looked elsewhere to sell their place, and the agent ended up with a $20,000 penalty.
Embo Community Centre Appeal (via Archive.org)
B.C. real estate agent fined $20K after chugging milk in fridge at showing (North Shore News)
